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.
Correspondent Mike Wallace was singled out for bottom slapping, lewd
comments and unsnapping co-workers' bras.
While today no one would hesitate to call such behavior sexual
harassment, Wallace's cheerful willingness to do it in public - even
in front of a stranger - made him seem like a good (albeit
unpleasant) old boy. 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. Hewitt vehemently denied the
story and all other allegations to Hertsgaard, while Wallace
admitted his own antics and promised they would never happen again.
Rolling Stone eventually published Hertsgaard's article in a
drastically reduced form, although Hertsgaard says Hewitt pulled all
the strings he could to get the story killed. In an interview from
his home in Takoma Park, Md., Hertsgaard spoke to Salon about the
allegations of sexual harassment at "60 Minutes" that never made it
into print - and about how the "men's club" within the media exposes
other sexually reckless men, but still protects its own.
Your story has some pretty explosive accusations against Don
Hewitt. How did you come to write the piece?
Sexual harassment was not the point of the investigation. I
literally witnessed sexual harassment on my first day of interviews