he is telling the truth. Wigand put faith in that fact. Wigand agreed to do an interview with 60 Minutes because he knew that people would listen. He knew that the absolute truth would finally be out in the open, and that it would come from a source that people would believe. He risked everything because he had faith in the media and journalists. What happened next is, quite frankly, disgraceful. When the tobacco industry, specifically the company B&W learned that CBS intended to air the interview, they began to lean on the CBS corporate office. They threatened lawsuits that could quite possibly mean that B&W would end up owning CBS. There were other factors as well. Westinghouse was about to purchase CBS. That meant that corporate managers stood to make lots of money. A lawsuit with B&W could have easily made Westinghouse pull out of the deal, and people would loose money. Essentially the whole situation came down to an issue of money. CBS News decided not to air the story. It is quite obvious that they did not make that decision based upon any journalistic issues. They were being leaned on by the corporate office, which was looking at dollar signs. CBS News was setting aside the truth for money, something it never should have even considered doing. Than goodness that Lowell Bergman was there to stop the lunacy. He correctly pointed out that the CBS corporate office had no right to tell CBS News what stories it could and could not air. The truth is the truth, no matter who it damages. Bergman embarked on a crusade to see that the whole story was aired. Eventually CBS did air the entire interview. The only did so after receiving sharp criticism in The New York Times. The Washington Post, also showed that the smear campaign that CBS was using as justification for not airing the story, was nothing more than trumped up charges. CBS was left looking quite nasty, and decided to show the interview. The whole point is that business has no righ...
