'60 MINUTES' AIRS REVAMPED TOBACCO PIECE.Byline: Scott Williams Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. News' "60 Minutes" on Sunday finally broadcast its interview with tobacco industry whistle-blower whis·tle·blow·er or whis·tle-blow·er or whistle blower n. One who reveals wrongdoing within an organization to the public or to those in positions of authority: "The Pentagon's most famous whistleblower is . . Jeffrey Wigand Dr. Jeffrey Wigand (IPA: /ˈwaɪgænd/) (born December 17, 1942, New York City) was Vice President of Research and Development at Brown & Williamson in Louisville, Kentucky and currently resides in Mt. , who said he began packing a handgun because of death threats against him and his family. "A male voice that was on the phone, that said, 'Don't mess with mess with Verb Informal, chiefly US to interfere in, or become involved with, a dangerous person, thing, or situation: he had started messing with drugs tobacco any more. How are your kids?' " Wigand, ex-research chief for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., told "60 Minutes" Mike Wallace Mike Wallace may refer to:
CBS has been deep in legal hassles over the story, initially quashed in November by CBS management, which was negotiating the network's $5.4 billion takeover by Westinghouse and was fearful of a costly legal action. In it, Wigand alleged that former B&W Chairman Thomas Sandefur lied to Congress when he testified that he believed nicotine is not addictive. In Sunday's telecast - which included the old interview and new footage - Wigand also said Sandefur refused to listen to discussions about making safer cigarettes, saying it would put the company at "extreme exposure" with its other tobacco products. Wigand also told "60 Minutes" that Brown & Williamson attorney Kendrick Wells edited the minutes of a tobacco researchers' meeting to remove references to research on "safer" cigarettes. The "60 Minutes" report also devoted almost equal time to what it called Brown & Williamson's "full-throated campaign" to discredit Wigand, who was fired by B&W in 1993. "CBS management wouldn't let us broadcast our original story . . . because they were worried about the possibility of a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against us for 'tortious interference' - that is, interfering with Wigand's confidentiality agreement with Brown & Williamson," Wallace said on Sunday's broadcast. Things changed last week, Wallace said, when The Wall Street Journal published a deposition Wigand gave in a lawsuit filed by the state of Mississippi against the tobacco industry. Louisville, Ky.-based Brown & Williamson, the nation's third-largest tobacco company, is suing Wigand for the alleged breach of his confidentiality agreement. The tobacco company got permission last week from a New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of state court to obtain sworn depositions from Wallace, "60 Minutes" correspondent Morley Safer Morley Safer (born November 8, 1931) is a reporter and correspondent for CBS News. Safer was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He attended Harbord Collegiate Institute when he was young. He later graduated from University of Western Ontario. , segment producer Lowell Bergmann, executive producer Don Hewitt Don S. Hewitt (born Donald Hewitt, December 14 1922) is an American television news producer and executive, best known for creating 60 Minutes, the CBS news magazine in 1968, currently the longest-running prime time broadcast on American television. , CBS President Peter Lund, former CBS News President Eric Ober, and CBS attorneys Jonathan Sternberg and Ellen Oran Kaden. Brown & Williamson, in a news release Sunday night, said CBS "has promised to indemnify Wigand and provide legal assistance if he is accused of inaccurate statements." Wallace, in a postscript to Sunday's news segment, acknowledged that CBS had agreed to indemnify Wigand two months ago, "after a leak resulted in the disclosure of Dr. Wigand's identity before he was prepared to go public." CAPTION(S): PHOTO Jeffrey Wigand Received death threats |
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