TELEVISIONOber Joins ’60 Minutes’ Debate: In his...

TELEVISION

Ober Joins ’60 Minutes’ Debate: In his first public comment on the controversial “60 Minutes” tobacco-industry story, CBS News President Eric Ober backed the news-gathering practices in the story but severely criticized the subsequent disclosure of its confidential source. “We believe that the news-gathering process on the story was in every respect sound and appropriate,” Ober said in a memo Sunday to the CBS News staff. But Ober said that “the subsequent conduct of some individuals who disagreed with” the decision not to air the story resulted in the identification of a confidential source, “one of the most egregious violations of journalistic ethics and tradition.” CBS, Ober said, “greatly regrets this and will provide full indemnification” to the source if he is sued for libel. The New York Daily News, printing what it said was an excerpt of the un-aired “60 Minutes” report, identified the source as Jeffrey Wigand, a former executive with the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co. Wigand has been subpoenaed by the state attorney general in Mississippi to testify in a lawsuit in which the state is seeking reimbursement from tobacco companies for the cost of poor people’s smoking-related illnesses. Ober said that CBS News management does not know who released the source’s name or how a draft transcript of the report was removed from CBS and delivered to another news organization.

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Real-Life Drama: Brad Cunningham, the convicted murderer who is the real-life subject of the NBC miniseries “Dead by Sunset,” lost his legal fight to stop the docudrama from being aired. Cunningham, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of his fourth wife, had sought an injunction to stop NBC from showing the two-part program, saying the broadcast could pose a danger to his life from the “miscreants” at the Oregon prison where he is incarcerated. Judge Malcolm Marsh of the Federal District Court in Multnomah County, Ore., denied the complaint, saying the First Amendment entitles the network to air the drama. The first part of “Dead by Sunset” aired Sunday, and the second part airs tonight at 9 p.m.

PEOPLE WATCH

I’ve Been Working on the Railroad: Robert De Niro was cited for allegedly driving around a railroad crossing gate while shooting a scene for a new movie near train tracks in San Francisco. During the shooting of “The Fan,” which is about an obsessed baseball fan, an officer noticed the crew on a grade crossing, which is illegal, and ordered them back on public property, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation said Friday. She added that when the officer refused to back down, De Niro jumped into a Humvee and drove it around a downed crossing gate onto the track as a train approached. He stopped five feet short of the passing locomotive, she said. When the officer tried to ticket De Niro, the actor sent a stunt double to sign for the citation, then came out and reportedly yelled at the officer, and was given the citation which carries a $104 fine, the Caltrans spokeswoman said.

ART

Export Blocked: The British government has temporarily blocked the export of a work by the Italian Renaissance painter Fra Bartolommeo in the hope that $22 million can be raised to keep it in Britain. The painting, “The Holy Family With the Infant St. John,” is said by experts to be arguably the best preserved of the works from the artist’s finest period, between 1508 and 1512. The government’s Department of National Heritage said art lovers who want the work to remain in Britain have until Jan. 8 to show a serious intention to bid for the painting. If they do so, they could get another four months to raise the cash. The department did not reveal where in Britain the work is or who wants to export it.

THANKSGIVING WATCH

Turkey and Fixings: Rapper Tupac Shakur, who was recently released from prison on bail, and members of the rap group Tha Dogg Pound will help give out 2,000 Thanksgiving turkeys to needy families at the Brotherhood Crusade Headquarters at 200 E. Slauson Ave. on Tuesday at 10 a.m. . . . KKBT 92.3 FM (“The Beat”) will broadcast live today at the two Blockbuster Music stores which serve as drop-off points for the station’s annual holiday Food for Life drive. Listeners can donate canned goods at the stores on 101 N. Fairfax Ave. in Los Angeles and 2407 S. Bristol St. in Santa Ana from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.; the food will go to the L.A. Regional and Orange County Food Banks.