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51 W 52nd Street
New York, NY
USA 10019
Dear Mr. Safer:
The passage below from Michael Crichton's novel Airframe draws a picture of
American television news as irresponsible and lacking accountability:
Edward Fuller was the head of Norton Legal. He was a thin, ungainly
man of forty. He sat uneasily in the chair in Marder's office.
"Edward," Marder said, "we have a problem. Newsline is going to
run a story on the N-22 this weekend on prime-time television, and it
is going to be highly unfavorable."
"How unfavorable?"
"They're calling the N-22 a deathtrap."
"Oh dear," Fuller said. "That's very unfortunate."
"Yes, it is," Marder said. "I brought you in because I want to
know what I can do about it."
"Do about it?" Fuller said, frowning.
"Yes," Marder said. "What can we do? Can we prevent them from
running the story?"
"No."
"Can we get a court injunction barring them?"
"No. That's prior restraint. And from a publicity standpoint,
it's ill advised."
"You mean it would look bad."
"An attempt to muzzle the press? Violate the First Amendment?
That would suggest you have something to hide."
"In other words," Marder said, "they can run the story, and we
are powerless to stop them."
"Yes."
"Okay. But I think Newsline's information is inaccurate and
biased. Can we demand they give equal time to our evidence?"
"No," Fuller said. "The fairness doctrine, which included the
equal-time provision, was scrapped under Reagan. Television news
programs are under no obligation to present all sides of an issue."
"So they can say anything they want? No matter how unbalanced?"
"That's right."
"That doesn't seem proper."
"It's the law," Fuller said, with a shrug.
"Okay," Marder said. "Now this program is going to air at a very
sensitive moment for our company. Adverse publicity may very well
cost us the China sale."
"Yes, it might."
"Suppose that we lost business as a result of their show. If we
can demonstrate that Newsline presented an erroneous view - and we
told them it was erroneous - can we sue them for damages?"
"As a practical matter, no. We would probably have to show they
proceeded with 'reckless disregard' for the facts known to them.
Historically, that has been extremely difficult to prove."
"So Newsline is not liable for damages?"
"No."
"They can say whatever they want, and if they put us out of
business, it's our tough luck?"
"That's correct."
"Is there any restraint at all on what they say?"
"Well." Fuller shifted in his chair. "If they falsely portrayed
the company, they might be liable. But in this instance, we have a
lawsuit brought by an attorney for a passenger on 545. So Newsline
is able to say they're just reporting the facts: that an attorney
made the following accusations about us."
"I understand," Marder said. "But a claim filed in a court has
limited publicity. Newsline is going to present these crazy claims
to forty million viewers. And at the same time, they'll
automatically validate the claims, simply by repeating them on
television. The damage to us comes from their exposure, not from the
original claims."
"I take your point," Fuller said. "But the law doesn't see it
that way. Newsline has the right to report a lawsuit."
"Newsline has no responsibility to independently assess the legal
claims being made, no matter how outrageous? If the lawyers said,
for example, that we employed child molesters, Newsline could still
report that, with no liability to themselves?"
"Correct."
"Let's say we go to trial and win. It's clear that Newsline
presented an erroneous view of our product, based on the attorney's
allegations, which have been thrown out of court. Is Newsline
obligated to retract the statements they made to forty million
viewers?"
"No. They have no such obligation."
"Why not?"
"Newsline can decide what's newsworthy. If they think the
outcome of the trial is not newsworthy, they don't have to report
it. It's their call."
"And meanwhile, the company is bankrupt," Marder said. "Thirty
thousand employees lose their jobs, houses, health benefits, and
start new careers at Burger King. And another fifty thousand lose
their jobs, when our suppliers go belly up in Georgia, Ohio, Texas,
and Connecticut. All those fine people who've devoted their lives
working to design, build, and support the best airframe in the
business get a firm handshake and a swift kick in the butt. Is that
how it works?"
Fuller shrugged. "That's how the system works. Yes."
"I'd say the system sucks."
"The system is the system," Fuller said.
Marder glanced at Casey, then turned back to Fuller. "Now Ed," he
said. "This situation sounds very lopsided. We make a superb
product, and all the objective measures of its performance
demonstrate that it's safe and reliable. We've spent years
developing and testing it. We've got an irrefutable track record.
But you're saying a television crew can come in, hang around a day or
two, and trash our product on national TV. And when they do, they
have no responsibility for their acts, and we have no way to recover
damages."
Fuller nodded.
"Pretty lopsided," Marder said.
Fuller cleared his throat. "Well, it wasn't always that way.
But for the last thirty years, since Sullivan in 1964, the First
Amendment has been invoked in defamation cases. Now the press has a
lot more breathing room."
"Including room for abuse," Marder said.
Fuller shrugged. "Press abuse is an old complaint," he said.
"Just a few years after the First Amendment was passed, Thomas
Jefferson complained about how inaccurate the press was, how unfair
-"
"But Ed," Marder said. "We're not talking about two hundred
years ago. And we're not talking about a few nasty editorials in
colonial newspapers. We're talking about a television show with
compelling images that goes instantaneously to forty, fifty million
people - a sizable percentage of the whole country - and murders our
reputation. Murders it. Unjustifiably. That's the situation we're
talking about here. So," Marder said, "what do you advise us to do,
Ed?"
"Well," Fuller cleared his throat again. "I always advise my
clients to tell the truth."
Of course Michael Crichton's depiction above is fictional, and so may be
exaggerated. However, anyone who is acquainted with 60 Minutes' broadcast The Ugly
Face of Freedom of 23 Oct 1994 - hosted by yourself - cannot help wondering whether
Crichton's depiction might in fact be accurate, at least in occasional instances.
I wonder if you would not at long last care to break your silence and say a word
either of retraction and apology, or if not that, then at least some word in defense
of your broadcast and of your profession?
Yours truly,
Lubomyr Prytulak
cc: Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft, Andy Rooney, Lesley Stahl,
Mike Wallace.
HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE SAFER 820 hits since 9Apr99
Morley Safer Letter 5 9Apr99 Who blew the hands off Maksym Tsarenko?
The sort of powerful story that neither you nor Rabbi Bleich were able to find is one of
a Russian summer-camp councillor who had his hands blown off by Ukrainian
nationalists for using the Russian language within Ukraine; or one of a Jewish
summer-camp councillor having his hands blown off by Ukrainian nationalists for using
Hebrew or Yiddish within Ukraine. Such things do not happen within Ukraine to either
Russians or to Jews - they happen only to Ukrainians.
April 9, 1999
Morley Safer
60 Minutes, CBS Television
51 W 52nd Street
New York, NY
USA 10019
Morley Safer:
Who Blew The Hands Off
Maksym Tsarenko?
The photograph above shows Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma bestowing the Order of
Yaroslaw the Wise on Maksym Tsarenko. My free translation of the text which explains
the photograph is as follows:
Among the first recipients of the Order, awarded on the fourth
anniversary of the national independence of Ukraine, were leading
Ukrainian workers in the fields of culture, art, and law: O.
Basystiuk, A. Mokrenko, and F. Burchak.
On this same day, the president of Ukraine also bestowed this mark
of distinction, "for valor" upon twenty-year-old student at the
Vynnytsia Pedagogical Institute, Maksym Tsarenko.
During the summer holidays, Maksym was working as a councillor at a
summer camp for young girls near Yevpatoria, Crimea.
Haters of Ukraine, who rush to propose the view that Crimea is not a
peninsula attached to Ukraine, but rather is an island unconnected
to Ukraine, reacted with hostility to this summer camp, especially
provoked by the Ukrainian language spoken by the Ukrainian children,
which dared to resound even within Ukrainian Crimea. The hatred
mounted to such an irrepressible degree that it provoked the bandits
to the most egregious crime: they constructed an explosive and threw
it into the window of the children's dormitory. Ten or so children
could have been killed by the explosion. But the young Ukrainian
councillor showed no confusion as to his duty. He picked up the
bomb, shielding it with his own body, and jumped out of the
building. Unfortunately, the bomb went off, seriously wounding
Maksym.
The best local surgeons fought for several days to save the boy's
life. Thanks to them, the youth's life was spared. Unfortunately,
it was not possible to save his hands.
No one can accuse the recipient of not having earned his award.
Ukrainian awards, in contrast to Soviet, are fully deserved.
(Ukrainian-language newspaper, Novyi Shliakh (New Pathway) of
7Oct95, based on the earlier report in Ukrains'ke Slovo, (Ukrainian
Word), Kyiv, No. 37, 14Sep95)
The above story of Maksym Tsarenko compels me to ask - not for the first time - who
is in danger in Ukraine? The Western media urge us to accept that it is Jews and
Russians who are in danger, threatened by Ukrainian nationalists. That, for example,
is the conclusion of your infamous 60 Minutes broadcast The Ugly Face of Freedom of
23Oct94. However, you came back from your brief visit to Ukraine with no data to
substantiate such a claim. Almost a year ago, the Ukrainian Archive has requested
both of you and of Rabbi Bleich the evidence backing your report of violence against
Jews, and neither of you has as yet condescended to reply, strengthening the
suspicion that your story was fabricated.
The sort of powerful story that neither you nor Rabbi Bleich were able to find is one
of a Russian summer-camp councillor who had his hands blown off by Ukrainian
nationalists for using the Russian language within Ukraine; or one of a Jewish
summer-camp councillor having his hands blown off by Ukrainian nationalists for using
Hebrew or Yiddish within Ukraine. Such things do not happen within Ukraine to either
Russians or to Jews - they happen only to Ukrainians. It is the story of Ukrainians
being persecuted within Ukraine that you could have richly documented and broadcast
to the world. The story of Maksym Tsarenko can be found multiplied many times over
the torture-murders of Ukrainian activist Volodymyr Katelnytsky and his mother in
their Kyiv apartment providing a recent example. The contrasting story of Jewish or
Russian victimization within Ukraine is bogus - and yet that is the story that you
unscrupulously chose to broadcast.
Lubomyr Prytulak
cc: Rabbi Bleich, Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft, Andy Rooney,
Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace.
HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE SAFER 1973 hits since 20Apr99
Morley Safer Letter 6 20Apr99 What kind of people run 60 Minutes?
Women who worked in the "60 Minutes" offices described to Hertsgaard a sexually
charged environment that had more in common with a drunken frat party than a
professional newsroom. - Carol Lloyd
The excerpt quoted in my letter to Morley Safer below is taken from a Carol Lloyd's A
Feel For a Good Story of 17Mar98, published on the web site Mothers Who Think, whose
home page can be accessed by clicking on the link immediately above, or on the logo
immediately below:
60 Minutes Executive Producer,
Don Hewitt.
But the charges against Hewitt make Clinton's alleged behavior look
like clumsy courtship. One woman described to Hertsgaard how
Hewitt slammed her against a wall, pinned her there and forced his
tongue down her throat. - Carol Lloyd
April 20, 1999
Morley Safer
60 Minutes, CBS Television
51 W 52nd Street
New York, NY
USA 10019
Morley Safer:
I call to your attention the following excerpt from Carol Lloyd's A Feel For a Good
Story, published on the web site Mothers Who Think on 17Mar98. I will be asking you
further below whether the information provided by Carol Lloyd might help explain your
23Oct94 60 Minutes broadcast, The Ugly Face of Freedom:
The irony is that Hewitt - the creator of the TV show famous for
unveiling corruption and hypocrisy among the powerful - has been
accused of worse deeds than any of the sexual charges leveled at
Clinton.
In 1991, reporter Mark Hertsgaard, author of "On Bended Knee: The
Press and the Reagan Presidency," wrote an article for Rolling Stone
magazine in which he documented Hewitt's own serious problems with
impulse control. Women who worked in the "60 Minutes" offices
described to Hertsgaard a sexually charged environment that had more
in common with a drunken frat party than a professional newsroom.
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