‘60 Minutes’ Will Present Withheld Tobacco Interview

The interview that was dead is alive again. CBS--which has been strongly criticized for not airing an interview with a former tobacco industry executive for fear of a multibillion-dollar lawsuit from the Brown & Williamson tobacco company--will air the interview this Sunday on “60 Minutes.”

Mike Wallace, the correspondent on the story, will report this week on the “CBS Evening News” on continuing developments in the case--including what has happened to the former Brown & Williamson executive, Jeffrey Wigand, since his identity was revealed and he has been sued by his former employers.

The broadcasting of the interview, a portion of which was shown Friday night on the “CBS Evening News,” is a victory of sorts for Wallace and others involved in the story. According to sources, Wallace and others at “60 Minutes” and CBS News have been looking for ways to broadcast the story in recent weeks. Wallace did not want not doing a story to be his epitaph after a long career as “60 Minutes’ ” bulldog inquisitor. And many at the news division have felt that the reputation of CBS News has been badly tarnished by the decision not to air the piece in November.

Andrew Heyward, the new president of CBS News, has wanted to air the story. But CBS attorneys continued to advise against broadcasting the story on the grounds that CBS might be liable for inducing Wigand to break a confidentiality agreement he had signed with his former employer.

CBS still could be sued by Brown & Williamson. But what helped CBS to take that risk was the publication of Wigand’s charges against B&W; in the Wall Street Journal on Friday. The Journal published excerpts from Wigand’s sealed deposition in a Mississippi court case brought against tobacco companies by the Mississippi state attorney.

“We have been waiting for the opportunity to share our reporting on this critical subject with the American public,” Heyward said. “The fact that Mr. Wigand’s sworn testimony has now been revealed gave us that opportunity.” Heyward added, “I made the decision to go ahead in consultation with CBS lawyers.”

“The publication by the Journal would make it more difficult for Brown & Williamson to prove in court that they have been harmed by [airing Wigand’s charges] on ’60 Minutes,’ ” 1st Amendment attorney Victor Kovner said. “CBS News has been harshly and appropriately criticized” for not running the piece, Kovner said. “Now they’ll be able to show the public what they have on the story.”

In the excerpt from the “60 Minutes” interview that aired on the “CBS Evening News” on Friday, Wigand said that he was dismissed from Brown & Williamson in 1993 after complaining that the company was knowingly adding a cancer-causing additive to pipe tobacco. Wigand said that it was fully accepted at the company that nicotine is addictive. And he said that he recently has received death threats against himself and his family.

“Mr. Wigand has made false allegations against Brown & Williamson in his interview with ’60 Minutes,’ ” company spokesman Joseph Helewicz said Sunday. Helewicz would not comment on whether the company intends to sue CBS. “We’ll make a decision after they air the piece,” Helewicz said.

Wallace and producer Lowell Bergman, who began working on the Wigand interview a year ago, had promised Wigand anonymity. But his identity was revealed when the New York Daily News published a portion of a leaked transcript of the then-unaired “60 Minutes” interview. CBS agreed to pay for Wigand’s legal fees after his name was leaked.

CBS was being sold to Westinghouse Electric Corp. at the time CBS originally decided not to air the piece, and some within CBS believe that added to the attorneys’ caution about airing the story. Westinghouse acquired CBS in January.