CBS PRODUCER CRITICIZES WESTMORELAND PROGRAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000707160141-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 12, 2010
• Sequence Number: 141
• Publication Date: May 4, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/08/12 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000707160141-6
FAGE -
CBS Producer Criticizes Westmoreland Program
Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y., May 3-CBS
may have "pushed too hard" in its
1982 documentary that accused
Gen. William C. Westmoreland of
suppressing accurate estimates of
enemy troop strength in Vietnam,
the producer of the broadcast said
today.
While the documentary was fac-
tually accurate, if he had it to do
over again, CBS producer George
Crile said he would try to include
more of the context in which West-
moreland was operating while U.S
commander in Vietnam.
Crile made the remarks before a
regional conference of the Radio-
Television News Directors Asso-
ciation.
"It's clear the president [Lyndon
B. Johnson] wanted good news and
was going to beat up anybody who
didn't provide it," Crile said. "Gen.
Westmoreland was a patriot. He
was trying to win the war. He was
presumably acting in good faith. In
a sense, I think we pushed too
hard."
Crile produced the 1982 CBS
documentary, "The Uncounted En-
emy: Vietnam Deception. he
broadcast said Westmoreland, com-
mander of American trop s in Viet-
nam from 1964 to 1968, insisted
that intelligence reports s ow no
more than 300,000 communist
troops in the field, despite evidence
pointing to a figure in excess of
500,000. Westmoreland fear-e-d-M-e
higher figures would undermine
political support for the war, tie
broadcast said.
Westmoreland dropped his $120
million libel suit Feb. 18 following
an 18-week trial in U.S. District
Court in Manhattan. CBS, in its only
apparent concession, agreed not to
try to force him to pay its court
costs and legal fees.
The outcome of the trial pro-
duced no elation, Crile said, in part
because of "the human factor of sit-
ting near Gen. Westmoreland" in
court and sharing the experience of
being covered by the press.
Approved For Release 2010/08/12 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000707160141-6