WHO BROKE THE RULES?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000707160156-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 12, 2010
• Sequence Number: 156
• Publication Date: June 14, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/12 :CIA-RDP90-005528000707160156-0
pi:TI::~L'? A.1'PEARED
ON P.~c~_~-L
NEWS MEDIA
NEWS WEEK
14 Jtu~e 1982
Acts of omission: Did the tactics used by both CBS News and TV Guide obscure the truth?
Who Broke the Rules?
STAT
a.uai~w. estx:uruuig w rrunui~,
the only help Wallace provided
was to tell him to shorten the
length of his answers-and in
any case he was clearly identi-
fied as a paid consultant at the
beginning of the program.
Too Low: The article also
raised questions about some of
the documentary's most pow-
erful testimony against West-
moreland. It was provided by
Col. Gains Hawkins, sa Army
intelligence officer who spoke of the "great
concern" .Westmoreland expressed when
presented with high estimates of enemy
I t was an unusual story for TV Guide, talk about this until CBS completes its inter- troop strength. Hawkins admitted that he
covered at extraordinary length: eleven nal review." later defended what became known as the
and one-half pages purporting to describe There seems to be little doubt that CBS "command position" on troop estimates-
"How CBS News broke the rules and `got' was guilty of some questionable practices in even though he believed the estimates were
Gen. Westmoreland." The subject was putting together "The Uncounted Enemy." too low. According to TV Guide, those
"The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam De- As TV Guide noted, Crile and his col- statements presented a distorted picture of
ception," a "CBS Reports" documentary leagues went into the project with a precon- Hawkins's real views; Crile and his col-
broadcast last January that accused Gen. ceived notion of what their conclusion leagues edited them selectively, the maga-
William C. Westmoreland and his aides of would be-and they demonstrated a dis- zine said, to conform to their own biases.
suppressing accurate estimates of growing concerting tendency to consign inter- But last week Hawkins told NEWSVVEEK
enemy troop strength in South Vietnam viewees who contradicted it to the cutting- that his views had been presented accurate-
before the 1968 Tet offensive. In television room floor. They also failed to interview ly-and that he had told TV Guide reporter
spots and on the cover pf its May 29 issue, perhaps the most important participant in Kowet as much. Kowet doesn't dispute
TV Guide promoted its expose as the the controversy-the chief of military Intel- that. "Hawkins had no problems with how
"Anatomy of a Smear." The story made ligence in Vietnam at the time. he was represented in the documentary," he
eighteen allegations against "CBS Reports" Leak: Given CBS's silence, it is difficult conceded-precisely the opposite of what
producer George Crile and correspondent to weigh its defense against TV Guide's the article implied.
Mike Wallace. Among the charges: CBS claims. But in taking out after __ ~. There were other omissions
ignored evidence that contradicted its con- CBS, the magazine may have ~ ' as well. TV Guide never men-
spiracytheory, rehearsed the interview of a been guilty of some of the same tinned that Westmoreland had
friendly source and grilled "unfriendly wit- questionable tactics it attacked telephoned Hawkins fourtimes
ncsses with prosecutorial zeal." the network for using. "Anato- after the broadcast to try to get
The indictment was too detailed to be my of a Smear" owed its exist- him to say that his remarks had
shrugged off with a standard "we stand by ence to a CBS insider who ~ '! been taken out of context-and
our story" denial, and CBS clearly recog- leaked to TV Guide reporters w,~ that Hawkins had refused. It
nized as much. CBS News president Van Don Kowet and Sally Bedell i did make a point of reporting
Gordon Sauter immediately announced unedited transcripts of all the that Westmoreland had felt ill-
that the network was undertaking an in- television interviews conduct- used by Crile, who he said had
ternal investigation to be headed by him ed by CBS for the documen- =~ been "very vague" about what
and veteran producer Burton Benjamin. tary. This gave the magazine ~ ?~^ he would be asked on camera.
"Whether one thinks [the TV Guide the opportunity to second- ~' 4 ~ ~: Butit neglected to mention that
charges] are valid or not, they need to be guess every one of the net- ee~~..a canrya-r+~w~~E. the general publicly withdrew
thoroughly examined-and that is what we work's editing decisions. After Producer Crile the complaint after Crile pro-
are doing," Sauter said last week. "We'll comparing the transcripts with duced a copy of a letter that had
need another three weeks to complete the what appeared on the tube, the reporters been sent to Westmoreland before he was
job. It is a very serious series of allega- decided that CBS had "misrepresented the interviewed in which the subjects CBS in-
tions."Meanwhile, no one at CBS was com- accounts of events pro~7ded by some wit- tended to discuss with him were described.
menting publicly on the allegations-in- nesses," ignored other Qitnesses "altogeth- CBS consultant Adams said he invited
eluding Crile, who some staffers believe er" and "pulled quotes out of context." Kowet to come stay at his house so that he
may be fired if the network concludes that One of the magazine's strongest accu- could look at "all the evidence-and he
TV Guide's attack was largely justified. For cations was that "CBS's own paid con- never took me up on the offer." (Kowet says
the record, Crile remained confident. "I sultant [former CIA analyst Sam Adams] he interviewed Adams for "seven hours"
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