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in front of a stranger - made him seem like a good (albeit

unpleasant) old boy. 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. Hewitt vehemently denied the

story and all other allegations to Hertsgaard, while Wallace

admitted his own antics and promised they would never happen again.

Rolling Stone eventually published Hertsgaard's article in a

drastically reduced form, although Hertsgaard says Hewitt pulled all

the strings he could to get the story killed. In an interview from

his home in Takoma Park, Md., Hertsgaard spoke to Salon about the

allegations of sexual harassment at "60 Minutes" that never made it

into print - and about how the "men's club" within the media exposes

other sexually reckless men, but still protects its own.

Your story has some pretty explosive accusations against Don

Hewitt. How did you come to write the piece?

Sexual harassment was not the point of the investigation. I

literally witnessed sexual harassment on my first day of interviews

at "60 Minutes" and women began to tell me about it, so it gradually

found its way into the story. But that wasn't the point, it just was

so pervasive at the time that you couldn't miss it.

What did you witness when you were there?

The first day I was in the corridor talking with a female staffer

and I saw out of the corner of my eye Mr. Wallace coming down the

hall. He didn't know me yet because I hadn't interviewed him, so he

had no idea that it was a reporter standing there. I'm sure it

would have changed his mind. Anyway, just before he reached her she

pushed both her hands behind her bottom, like a little kid trying to

ward off a mama's spanking, and got up on her toes and leaned away.

But that didn't stop him. As he went by, he swatted her on the butt

with a rolled up magazine or newspaper or something like that.

That's no big deal, one could say, but I must say it did raise my

eyebrows. I said to her, "God, does that happen all the time?" and

she said, "Are you kidding? That is nothing." And that led to

people telling me how he'd also unsnap your bra strap or snap it for

you. So he had a reputation for that.

Then I also heard about this far-more-worrisome incident with Hewitt

and that one did get into the piece, although in a much censored

form, where he lunges at a woman in a deserted place, pins her

against the wall and sticks his tongue in her mouth. There were

other incidents women told me about Hewitt, and, of course, (former)

Washington Post journalist Sally Quinn was already on the record in

her book "We're Going to Make You a Star" accusing Hewitt of making

an aggressive pass at her and sabotaging her work when she refused

him.

Was the sexual harassment at "60 Minutes" pervasive?

It sure seemed that way. There's a woman quoted in my story saying

that Mike would constantly have his hands on your thigh, or

whatnot. One producer said that basically Mike Wallace and Don

Hewitt felt this was their right. And that's how a lot of men in

television felt for many years. Women were basically hired for

their looks. You had to be competent too, but you damn well better

look good.

I understand that you had a difficult time getting the story

published in Rolling Stone.

The entire piece almost never ran because Don Hewitt tried to kill

it and (Rolling Stone editor and publisher) Jann Wenner almost went

along with him. They did emasculate the piece by taking out a lot

of the damaging material. You'll see in there that there is one

basic episode involving Don. There were four that I had reported.

[...]

So what did you think when you saw Hewitt taking a stand for

Kathleen Willey?

It was odd to me, seeing Don quoted in the New York Times on Friday

and Saturday as he was hyping Sunday's broadcast. He's talking

about what happened and I just thought of that old Dylan song:

"You've got a lot of nerve."

I hoped somebody would call him on it. In today's Times, Patricia

Ireland, head of NOW, is quoted as saying if these charges by Ms.

Willey are true, it has crossed a very important line from sexual

harassment to sexual assault. And if that's the case, we have to be

very serious about it. Well, the situation where Hewitt stuck his

tongue down that women's throat - that's assault. That is assault.

She certainly felt like she was assaulted. She freed herself by

kicking him in the balls - which they also cut out. She runs away

and then the next day, there was a fancy gala event where you have

to come in evening dress and she's there and Hewitt, this son of a

gun - he's like a randy old goat - he just could not take no for an

answer. She was wearing a backless gown and suddenly she feels

someone running his fingers up and down her bare back. She turns

around, obviously jumpy from what had happened the day before, and

sees the object of her horror - Hewitt - saying, "Don't be scared, I

just think you're a very attractive girl." They cut that out of the