-Caveat Lector- -----Original Message----- From: Bill Nalty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Newsgroups: alt.current-events.clinton.whitewater Date: Thursday, December 10, 1998 3:07 PM Subject: "60 Minutes" Hewitt to Personally Apologize for Airing Fake Story >http://www.post-dispatch.com/postnet/news/wires.nsf/national > > >`60 Minutes' to apologize for airing material from faked documentary > >12/10/98 02:10:30 PM > >By DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer > >NEW YORK (AP) -- ``60 Minutes'' will deliver an unusual on-air apology >Sunday for airing a story about heroin smuggling that a British panel >has determined was a fake. > >The CBS report was based on ``The Connection,'' a British documentary >that said Colombia's Cali drug cartel had opened a new heroin smuggling >route to London. It aired on ``60 Minutes'' on June 1, 1997. > >After the film's authenticity was challenged, an independent panel of >lawyers and TV producers investigated and determined that producers had >faked locations and paid actors to portray drug couriers. > >Don Hewitt, executive producer of ``60 Minutes,'' will read the apology >at the end of Sunday's show. It will be the first time Hewitt has >appeared in front of cameras on the program he has produced since 1968. > >``We, you and television viewers in 14 other countries were taken. To >make amends, we felt obligated to lay it all out in detail and ask you >to please accept our apology,'' Hewitt's statement reads. > >The newsmagazine showed a film clip purporting to show a courier eluding >authorities by swallowing fingers of a latex glove filled with heroin. >But investigators found there was no evidence the person was carrying >heroin ``rather than sugar, flour or mints.'' > >The ``60 Minutes'' report was narrated by Steve Kroft. Upon getting the >documentary, ``60 Minutes'' interviewed documentary producer Marc de >Beaufort and was satisfied he had a good reputation, Hewitt said. De >Beaufort has blamed a researcher for the ``alleged fakery'' and said he >didn't believe the panel's conclusions. > >CBS also checked with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and was told that >swallowing rubber containers filled with heroin was a smuggling >technique used by the Cali cartel, Hewitt said. > >``I think we did our job pretty good in checking it and taking it to the >Drug Enforcement Agency,'' he said. ``Can you always be 100 percent sure >when you do a story based on somebody else's reporting from the >outside?'' > >The episode will make ``60 Minutes'' reluctant to rely on stories >largely reported by others, he said. > >No ``60 Minutes'' employee will be disciplined for a role in airing the >story, he said. > >Carlton Communications, which made ``The Connection'' for the British >network Independent Television, has said it will return the eight awards >won by the documentary. The company also promised to refund the money >paid by broadcasters for the rights to show it. > >The documentary was aired at least twice in the United States on the >Cinemax network, and portions were provided free to ``60 Minutes.'' > >Cinemax also plans an on-air apology at some point, said Quentin >Schaffer, spokesman for HBO Productions, which owns Cinemax. > >The incident adds to the media's rough year. In July, CNN apologized and >retracted a story alleging the U.S. military used nerve gas on Vietnam >War defectors. ``60 Minutes'' also learned this summer that it and other >media outlets were snookered by a convicted killer from Massachusetts >who had won release from prison partly on false claims that he served in >Vietnam. > >AP-CS-12-10-98 1506EST >http://www.post-dispatch.com/postnet/news/wires.nsf/National/A046BCD52A8458 45862566D6006E803C > > > DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
