Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 10, 1995 TAG: 9511100084
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: THE WASHINGTON POST LENGTH: Medium
``We were told [by CBS lawyers] that we couldn't put the piece on,'' Mike Wallace, the veteran ``60 Minutes'' correspondent who conducted the interview, said Thursday. ``In the final analysis, they are the publishers. ... We argued with the attorneys, and we lost.''
Said Don Hewitt, executive producer of CBS' premier prime-time news program: ``I concur with the decision of the lawyers that [the story] was fraught with lawsuits. ... When attorneys I respect tell me it could happen, and it could happen in a court in a tobacco state, I have to listen to them.''
Hewitt and Wallace, confirming a report in Thursday's New York Times, said ABC's recent decision to settle a $10 billion lawsuit by Philip Morris with an apology and payment of legal fees had chilled the climate for reporting on cigarette companies. ``It has not chilled us as journalists, but it has chilled lawyers,'' Wallace said. ``It has chilled management. I'm sure ABC's cave-in on what I perceive to be an eminently fair story is bound to have its effect on other managements.''
The capitulation by television's oldest and most respected newsmagazine is likely to draw wide attention at a time when the Clinton administration is battling the industry over proposals to increase regulation of cigarettes.
CBS is owned by Laurence Tisch, the chairman of Loews Corp., whose subsidiaries include the tobacco manufacturer Lorillard Inc. The controversy erupted as CBS shareholders prepared to vote next week on a $5.4 billion takeover by Westinghouse Electric Corp.
Some network employees said they believe CBS executives did not want to impede the takeover, which, with the cashing out of stock options, will bring CBS News President Eric Ober $1.46 million and General Counsel Ellen Oran Kaden, who led the legal team, $1.19 million.
Ober dismissed such suggestions as ``absurd'' and ``a self-serving cheap shot.''
The objections of the CBS legal team centered on a confidentiality agreement that the former executive had signed with Brown & Williamson. Hewitt and Wallace said CBS' attorneys argued that the network could be sued for ``tortious interference,'' or inducing the source to break his contract. Wallace said he strongly disagreed. ``It got very, very hot around here,'' he said.
by CNB