ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, January 31, 1997               TAG: 9701310047
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-2  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press

'60 MINUTES' WON'T AIR COSBY TALK

CBS News won't air the rest of Dan Rather's interview with Bill Cosby on Sunday, including the entertainer's admission that he had an affair with the mother of a woman who claims to be his illegitimate daughter.

Facing criticism that the network was parceling out its exclusive to bolster ratings, CBS News President Andrew Heyward and ``60 Minutes'' producer Don Hewitt decided not to broadcast the rest of the interview, portions of which aired Monday on ``The CBS Evening News.''

``I suggested to Dan and ... Heyward that maybe too many people had picked over the interview and there wasn't as much left as we thought there would be,'' Hewitt said in a statement issued Thursday.

Cosby has not given interviews to anyone but Rather since his son, Ennis, was shot to death.

According to a transcript of the portion of the interview that was intended for ``60 Minutes,'' Cosby admits having an affair with Shawn Thompson in the mid-1970s.

``If you said, `Did you make love to the woman?' the answer is yes. `Are you the father?' No,'' Cosby said.

But when pressed by Rather if there was a chance he could be the father of Thompson's daughter, Autumn Jackson, Cosby replied: ``There is a possibility.''

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