ГУЛаг Палестины

Bleich's stories, then it would seem appropriate that you retract them.

A comment on a related point. You must be aware that a number of the defects of

the 60 Minutes broadcast The Ugly Face of Freedom are discussed on the Ukrainian

Archive web site, particularly in the section at www.ukar.org/60min.shtml, and to a

lesser extent in other places on the larger site at www.ukar.org. Your name

inevitably comes up in these discussions. Using the site's internal search engine to

search for your name reveals that it appears hundreds of times spread over dozens of

documents. I mention this to invite you to examine these many references with the

aim of determining their accuracy and fairness. If you have any comments to make

concerning these references, then I can promise you that these comments will be

reproduced on the Ukrainian Archive complete and unedited, and that any instances of

unfairness or inaccuracy that you bring to my attention will be immediately

corrected.

If you cannot find instances of unfairness or inaccuracy in the many accusations

that have been leveled against The Ugly Face of Freedom, then I wonder whether your

refusing to retract and apologize satisfies standards of journalistic ethics.

Yours truly,

Lubomyr Prytulak

cc: Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft, Andy Rooney, Lesley Stahl,

Mike Wallace.

HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE SAFER 626 hits since 5Dec98

Morely Safer Letter 4 5Dec98 Press responsibility and accountability

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.

December 5, 1998

Morley Safer

60 Minutes, CBS Television

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."