CIA COMES OUT FIRING AGAINST ABC

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201330009-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: February 11, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201330009-7
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CIA COMES
OUT FIRING
AGAINST ABC
By DAVID CROOK,
Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON-The CIA
replaced its shotgun with
a rifle late last week in
releasing a point-by-point denial of
charges leveled at the intelligence
agency in two disputed ABC News
reports.
The Central Intelligence Agency
claimed that ABC presented "a
work of fiction" and "artificial
news" in the guise of an investiga-
tive news documentary that un-
fairly "portrayed the CIA as the
talisman of evil, ruthless and re-
sponsible to no individual and with
no legal constraints when its inter-
ests are threatened."
Unlike previous CIA salvos at
ABC, the agency's latest assault
raises questions about the net-
work's news-gathering methods as
well as the reliability of sources
and means of substantiation used to
report on allegedly illegal CIA
activities in Hawaii, including a
plot to murder indicted investment
counselor Ronald R. Rewald, an
American citizen.
In an exhaustively detailed 74-
page petition filed late Friday with
the Federal Communications Com-
mission, the CIA renewed its
.barges that ABC violated the
FCC's fairness doctrine and a rule
against deliberate news distortion,
and engaged in a personal attack on
the CIA and on President Reagan
in news reports broadcast Sept. 19
and 20 of last year. The agency
again asked the FCC to investigate
its claim against ABC and "to grant
such further relief as it may deem
appropriate."
The CIA said: "Except for nine
LOS ANGELES TIMES
11 February 1985
words-'The CIA denies it ever
tried to kill Rewald'-ABC did not
once present anything other than
the Rewald version of the story, a
story which excuses Rewald from
the acts for which he stands indict-
ed and, instead, implicates and
indeed accuses the CIA of the theft
of over $20 million and attempted
murder."
The new complaint (actually an
appeal of a January FCC staff
dismissal of the agency's initial
charges) points at the techniques
ABC employed in the broadcasts
and charges that the reporter and
producers responsible: knowingly
used unreliable and suspect sourc-
es; purposely distorted the facts
and positions of public officials
quoted; suppressed or ignored the
preponderance of evidence contra-
dicting their allegations, and acted
with "reckless disregard" by not
verifying the criminal charges
ianade against the agency.
Throughout the unusual string of
events surrounding its fight with
the intelligence agency, ABC has
not answered publicly the CIA's
charges. ABC's public statements
have centered on the First Amend-
ment issues raised by the CIA's
unprecedented effort to involve the
FCC in the dispute.
On Friday, Roone Arledge, pres-
ident of ABC News and Sports,
issued a prepared statement that, in
large part, repeated verbatim a
Nov. 26, 1984, statement issued in
response to the CIA's initial FCC
filing.
ABC's disputed reports, along
with a brief follow-up broadcast on
Sept. 26, alleged that the CIA
conducted an array of clandestine
and illegal activities through the
now-bankrupt Honolulu invest-
ment firm of Bishop, Baldwin,
A,ewald, Dillingham & Wong.
,Whose operations included, ABC
alleged, arms shipments to Taiwan,
Syria and India, efforts to destabi-
lize the economies of Hong Kong,
Greece and the Philippines and a
CIA plot to murder Rewald.
ABC has acknowledged that it
could not substantiate the Rewald
murder story, but it has not ad-
dressed publicly any of the other
allegations raised, including a claim
that the CIA threatened the life of
an investor in Rewald's firm.
Last August, a Honolulu grand
jury slapped Rewald with a 100-
count federal indictment for tax
evasion, fraud and perjury. He is
accused of swindling about 400
investors out of about $22 million.
The grand jury also concluded that
Rewald lied in a sworn statement
claiming that his firm was created
for and operated at the direction of
the CIA. That sworn statement has
formed the basis for much of ABC's
and others' reporting of the Rewald
affair.
"ABC never informed the view-
ing public that the Department of
Justice and other government enti-
ties familiar with Rewald believed
that he was solely responsible for
the loss of the investment funds,"
the CIA said.
The CIA complaint also charged
that ABC misrepresented the posi-
tion of the court-appointed bank-
ruptcy trustee, Thomas Hayes,
who has sorted through Rewald's
complicated financial dealings as
well as reviewed court-sealed re-
cords in the case.
ABC said on the air in Septem-
ber, 1984, that Hayes confirmed the
E Rewald-CIA connection but, ac-
cording to the agency's complaint,
Hayes' interview was edited in
such a manner that he seemed to
convey "implicitly the notion that
the trustee found that the CIA was
directly involved in the theft of
money."
That is not Hayes' Position, the
CIA argued. According to official
and published accounts, including
Hayes' preliminary report to the
bankruptcy court, he has conclud-
ed that "there is no credible evi-
dence" that investor money was
spent on either overt or covert CIA
projects.
CoRbrmd
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 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201330009-7
a
The intelligence agency also
claimed that ABC failed to exercise
minimal efforts to corroborate its
charges that the CIA engaged in
illegal arms deals, especially the
allegation of a secret shipment to
Taiwan.
That "back-door deal," ABC
claimed on the air, "enabled the
CIA on behalf of the U.S. govern -
ment to circumvent its agreement
with mainland China not to supply
certain offensive weapons to Tai-
wan." ABC accompanied that
statement with file footage of Pres-
ident Reagan greeting an official of
the People's Republic of China.
The unrelated file film, the CIA
said, suggested "to the viewing
public that the President was en-
gaged in duplicitous, deceitful con-
duct." That accusation, the agency
added, constituted a "personal at-
tack against the CIA and the
President of the United States,
which under even the most basic
standards of fairness would require
corroboration on the presentation
of opposing viewpoints."
The CIA told the FCC that the
network's on-air charges "were
created out of thin air" and were no
more valid than the infamous 1981
Pulitzer Prize-winning "Jimmy's
World" fabrication by Washington
Post reporter Janet Cooke.
"An examination of the 'overall
picture' in this case leads inescapa-
bly to the conclusion that ABC first
decided exactly what it wanted to
report and then purposefully con-
structed a broadcast to -fit its
predetermined ideas," the CIA said.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201330009-7