You will see that in my letter to Rabbi Bleich, I request particulars concerning
the two or more attacks that he refers to. I now put the same request to you: if you
are able to provide confirmatory details, please do so - at a minimum, the names of
the victims, and the locations and dates of the attacks; copies of newspaper
clippings or other documentation if you have it. If you are unable to document Rabbi
Bleich's stories, then it would seem appropriate that you retract them.
A comment on a related point. You must be aware that a number of the defects of
the 60 Minutes broadcast The Ugly Face of Freedom are discussed on the Ukrainian
Archive web site, particularly in the section at www.ukar.org/60min.shtml, and to a
lesser extent in other places on the larger site at www.ukar.org. Your name
inevitably comes up in these discussions. Using the site's internal search engine to
search for your name reveals that it appears hundreds of times spread over dozens of
documents. I mention this to invite you to examine these many references with the
aim of determining their accuracy and fairness. If you have any comments to make
concerning these references, then I can promise you that these comments will be
reproduced on the Ukrainian Archive complete and unedited, and that any instances of
unfairness or inaccuracy that you bring to my attention will be immediately
corrected.
If you cannot find instances of unfairness or inaccuracy in the many accusations
that have been leveled against The Ugly Face of Freedom, then I wonder whether your
refusing to retract and apologize satisfies standards of journalistic ethics.
Yours truly,
Lubomyr Prytulak
cc: Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft, Andy Rooney, Lesley Stahl,
Mike Wallace.
HOME DISINFORMATION PEOPLE SAFER 626 hits since 5Dec98
Morely Safer Letter 4 5Dec98 Press responsibility and accountability
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.
December 5, 1998
Morley Safer
60 Minutes, CBS Television
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."