ГУЛаг Палестины - Лев Гунин

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."

"I take your point," Fuller said. "But the law doesn't see it

that way. Newsline has the right to report a lawsuit."

"Newsline has no responsibility to independently assess the legal

claims being made, no matter how outrageous? If the lawyers said,

for example, that we employed child molesters, Newsline could still

report that, with no liability to themselves?"

"Correct."

"Let's say we go to trial and win. It's clear that Newsline

presented an erroneous view of our product, based on the attorney's

allegations, which have been thrown out of court. Is Newsline

obligated to retract the statements they made to forty million

viewers?"

"No. They have no such obligation."

"Why not?"

"Newsline can decide what's newsworthy. If they think the

outcome of the trial is not newsworthy, they don't have to report

it. It's their call."

"And meanwhile, the company is bankrupt," Marder said. "Thirty

thousand employees lose their jobs, houses, health benefits, and

start new careers at Burger King. And another fifty thousand lose

their jobs, when our suppliers go belly up in Georgia, Ohio, Texas,

and Connecticut. All those fine people who've devoted their lives

working to design, build, and support the best airframe in the

business get a firm handshake and a swift kick in the butt. Is that

how it works?"

Fuller shrugged. "That's how the system works. Yes."

"I'd say the system sucks."

"The system is the system," Fuller said.

Marder glanced at Casey, then turned back to Fuller. "Now Ed," he

said. "This situation sounds very lopsided. We make a superb

product, and all the objective measures of its performance

demonstrate that it's safe and reliable. We've spent years

developing and testing it. We've got an irrefutable track record.

But you're saying a television crew can come in, hang around a day or

two, and trash our product on national TV. And when they do, they

have no responsibility for their acts, and we have no way to recover

damages."

Fuller nodded.

"Pretty lopsided," Marder said.

Fuller cleared his throat. "Well, it wasn't always that way.

But for the last thirty years, since Sullivan in 1964, the First

Amendment has been invoked in defamation cases. Now the press has a

lot more breathing room."

"Including room for abuse," Marder said.

Fuller shrugged. "Press abuse is an old complaint," he said.

"Just a few years after the First Amendment was passed, Thomas

Jefferson complained about how inaccurate the press was, how unfair

-"

"But Ed," Marder said. "We're not talking about two hundred

years ago. And we're not talking about a few nasty editorials in

colonial newspapers. We're talking about a television show with

compelling images that goes instantaneously to forty, fifty million

people - a sizable percentage of the whole country - and murders our

reputation. Murders it. Unjustifiably. That's the situation we're

talking about here. So," Marder said, "what do you advise us to do,

Ed?"

"Well," Fuller cleared his throat again. "I always advise my

clients to tell the truth."

Of course Michael Crichton's depiction above is fictional, and so may be

exaggerated. However, anyone who is acquainted with 60 Minutes' broadcast The Ugly

Face of Freedom of 23 Oct 1994 - hosted by yourself - cannot help wondering whether

Crichton's depiction might in fact be accurate, at least in occasional instances.

I wonder if you would not at long last care to break your silence and say a word

either of retraction and apology, or if not that, then at least some word in defense

of your broadcast and of your profession?

Yours truly,

Lubomyr Prytulak

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

Mike Wallace.

HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE SAFER 820 hits since 9Apr99

Morley Safer Letter 5 9Apr99 Who blew the hands off Maksym Tsarenko?

The sort of powerful story that neither you nor Rabbi Bleich were able to find is one of

a Russian summer-camp councillor who had his hands blown off by Ukrainian

nationalists for using the Russian language within Ukraine; or one of a Jewish

summer-camp councillor having his hands blown off by Ukrainian nationalists for using

Hebrew or Yiddish within Ukraine. Such things do not happen within Ukraine to either

Russians or to Jews - they happen only to Ukrainians.

April 9, 1999

Morley Safer

60 Minutes, CBS Television

51 W 52nd Street

New York, NY

USA 10019

Morley Safer:

Who Blew The Hands Off

Maksym Tsarenko?

The photograph above shows Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma bestowing the Order of

Yaroslaw the Wise on Maksym Tsarenko. My free translation of the text which explains

the photograph is as follows:

Among the first recipients of the Order, awarded on the fourth

anniversary of the national independence of Ukraine, were leading

Ukrainian workers in the fields of culture, art, and law: O.

Basystiuk, A. Mokrenko, and F. Burchak.

On this same day, the president of Ukraine also bestowed this mark

of distinction, "for valor" upon twenty-year-old student at the

Vynnytsia Pedagogical Institute, Maksym Tsarenko.

During the summer holidays, Maksym was working as a councillor at a

summer camp for young girls near Yevpatoria, Crimea.

Haters of Ukraine, who rush to propose the view that Crimea is not a

peninsula attached to Ukraine, but rather is an island unconnected

to Ukraine, reacted with hostility to this summer camp, especially

provoked by the Ukrainian language spoken by the Ukrainian children,

which dared to resound even within Ukrainian Crimea. The hatred

mounted to such an irrepressible degree that it provoked the bandits

to the most egregious crime: they constructed an explosive and threw

it into the window of the children's dormitory. Ten or so children

could have been killed by the explosion. But the young Ukrainian

councillor showed no confusion as to his duty. He picked up the

bomb, shielding it with his own body, and jumped out of the

building. Unfortunately, the bomb went off, seriously wounding

Maksym.

The best local surgeons fought for several days to save the boy's

life. Thanks to them, the youth's life was spared. Unfortunately,

it was not possible to save his hands.

No one can accuse the recipient of not having earned his award.

Ukrainian awards, in contrast to Soviet, are fully deserved.

(Ukrainian-language newspaper, Novyi Shliakh (New Pathway) of

7Oct95, based on the earlier report in Ukrains'ke Slovo, (Ukrainian

Word), Kyiv, No. 37, 14Sep95)

The above story of Maksym Tsarenko compels me to ask - not for the first time - who

is in danger in Ukraine? The Western media urge us to accept that it is Jews and

Russians who are in danger, threatened by Ukrainian nationalists. That, for example,

is the conclusion of your infamous 60 Minutes broadcast The Ugly Face of Freedom of

23Oct94. However, you came back from your brief visit to Ukraine with no data to

substantiate such a claim. Almost a year ago, the Ukrainian Archive has requested

both of you and of Rabbi Bleich the evidence backing your report of violence against

Jews, and neither of you has as yet condescended to reply, strengthening the

suspicion that your story was fabricated.

The sort of powerful story that neither you nor Rabbi Bleich were able to find is one

of a Russian summer-camp councillor who had his hands blown off by Ukrainian

nationalists for using the Russian language within Ukraine; or one of a Jewish

summer-camp councillor having his hands blown off by Ukrainian nationalists for using

Hebrew or Yiddish within Ukraine. Such things do not happen within Ukraine to either

Russians or to Jews - they happen only to Ukrainians. It is the story of Ukrainians

being persecuted within Ukraine that you could have richly documented and broadcast

to the world. The story of Maksym Tsarenko can be found multiplied many times over

the torture-murders of Ukrainian activist Volodymyr Katelnytsky and his mother in

their Kyiv apartment providing a recent example. The contrasting story of Jewish or

Russian victimization within Ukraine is bogus - and yet that is the story that you

unscrupulously chose to broadcast.

Lubomyr Prytulak

cc: Rabbi Bleich, Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft, Andy Rooney,

Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace.

HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE SAFER 1973 hits since 20Apr99

Morley Safer Letter 6 20Apr99 What kind of people run 60 Minutes?

Women who worked in the "60 Minutes" offices described to Hertsgaard a sexually

charged environment that had more in common with a drunken frat party than a

professional newsroom. - Carol Lloyd

The excerpt quoted in my letter to Morley Safer below is taken from a Carol Lloyd's A

Feel For a Good Story of 17Mar98, published on the web site Mothers Who Think, whose

home page can be accessed by clicking on the link immediately above, or on the logo

immediately below:

60 Minutes Executive Producer,

Don Hewitt.

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. - Carol Lloyd

April 20, 1999

Morley Safer

60 Minutes, CBS Television

51 W 52nd Street

New York, NY

USA 10019

Morley Safer:

I call to your attention the following excerpt from Carol Lloyd's A Feel For a Good

Story, published on the web site Mothers Who Think on 17Mar98. I will be asking you

further below whether the information provided by Carol Lloyd might help explain your

23Oct94 60 Minutes broadcast, The Ugly Face of Freedom:

The irony is that Hewitt - the creator of the TV show famous for

unveiling corruption and hypocrisy among the powerful - has been

accused of worse deeds than any of the sexual charges leveled at

Clinton.

In 1991, reporter Mark Hertsgaard, author of "On Bended Knee: The

Press and the Reagan Presidency," wrote an article for Rolling Stone

magazine in which he documented Hewitt's own serious problems with

impulse control. Women who worked in the "60 Minutes" offices

described to Hertsgaard a sexually charged environment that had more

in common with a drunken frat party than a professional newsroom.