LIBEL SUITS/)RATHER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000301490006-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: December 12, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/01/11 : CIA-RDP88-0107OR000301490006-7
CBS EVENING NEWS
12 December 1984
,LIBEL SUITS/>RATHER: Tonight, a look at a first-of-a-kin gal case,
>NEWS MEDIA>the CIA versus ABC. Bob Simon reports on this important
case in point, a case that in principle involves freedom
of speech and press, a case that in practice could affect
what kinds of stories you see in the future and, perhaps
more important, what kinds of stories you won't.
SIMON: It was the stuff that great stories are made of.
It had palm trees, champagne, thoroughbreds and spies.
The star: playboy Ronald Rewald living high in Hawaii and
working for the CIA. His investment banking firm, Bishop
Baldwin, was really a CIA front, reportedly involved in
arms deals and international surveillance. For
investigative reporters, it was Honolulu, here we come.
The BBC did it. CBS did it. From the CIA, no comment.
Then ABC did it and added one new ingredient, Scott
Barnes, the man who said the CIA had hired him to kill
Ronald Rewald. SCOTT BARNES (Sept. 20):- He says, 'We
gotta take him out.' UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: You mean...
BARNES: You know, kill him.
SIMON: Two months later, ABC broadcast what it called an
update and a clarification. PETER JENNINGS (ABC News,
Nov. 21): So ABC News has now concluded that Barnes's
charges cannot be substantiated, and we have no reason to
doubt the CIA's denial.
SIMON': But this was not enough for the CIA. That same
afternoon, the agency filed a complaint agar~it-AB_C_with
the Federal Communications Commission. No government
agency had ever done that before. GEORGE CLARK (CIA
counsel): We filed the complaint basically because ABC's
charges against the CIA were outrageous.
SIMON: Floyd Abrams is one of America's leading legal
authorities on cases involving freedom of the press.
FLOYD ABRAMS: The CIA doesn't want just an apology, i
it wants a little bit of blood.
SIMON: Theoretically, the CIA could get ABC's lifeblood.
The FCC has the power to deprive ABC-owned stations of the
licenses they need to broadcast. GEORGE WATSON (vice
president, ABC News): Everywhere you turn, you see
efforts by present and former government officials to
control reporting about themselves, to suppress reporting
they don't like, to stifle opinions that they disagree
with.
SIMON: Turn to New York City. In one courthouse, libel
suits brought by two generals, Westmoreland suing CBS for
$120 million and Ariel Sharon suing Time magazine for $50
million. But for a big chill, have a look at the Chester
Continued
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 Approved For Release 2010/01/11 : CIA-RDP88-01070R000301490006-7
Country Press in Oxford, Pa. The libel suit is not a
nuisance here, it's a question of survival. IRV LEIBERMAN
(publisher, Chester County Press): The way I'm making a
living is with removing any kind of, ah, ah, of
investigative work from any and all my products.
SIMON: This is not the spies against a network in a
romantic setting. It's a small-town weekly newspaper
taking on.Richie Ashburn, the former outfielder who now
broadcasts for the Philadelphia Phillies. The paper
called Ashburn a tax cheat. RICHIE ASHBURN: I had fans
yelling at me from the stands, calling me a tax cheat.
And I kinds laughed it off. But, you know, a little thing
like this, and it, it's, not so little if you're the guy
that's involved..
SIMON: Leiberman says he sticks by his story. But his
insurance company settled out of court with Ashburn, at
least-partially because the publisher had a number of
other libel suits pending. It could end up affecting what
stories newspapers put on their front pages and what
television executives put on their network news
broadcasts. WATSON: It's very easy to find reasons not
to do something. And if you look at a story and you're
faced with the prospect of a lawsuit or other actions,
then you think twice. EDWARD JOYCE (president, CBS News):
If we feel comfortable with it, if we believe it's a story
we should go with, then we must not be deterred because of
this action. If we are deterred, it will be to our
undying shame.
SIMON: But what about Richie Ashburn, who insists he was
not a tax cheat and should not have been called one?
ASHBURN: I think these people have to be held accountable
for this kind of, this kind of garbage.
SIMON: And what about the CIA? CLARK: The CIA's
objective is to hopefully bring back some kind of
journalistic standard to the major TV media.
SIMON: Everyone agrees there must be journalistic
standards. Everyone does not agree that those standards
should be enforced by the CIA or for that matter by the
courts. (footage of Ariel Sharon and Gen. William
Westmoreland leaving their respective courtrooms) 'Bob
Simon, CBS News, New York.
Approved For Release 2010/01/11 : CIA-RDP88-01070R000301490006-7