Лев Гунин - ГУЛаг Палестины

compelling images that goes instantaneously to forty, fifty million

people - a sizable percentage of the whole country - and murders our

reputation. Murders it. Unjustifiably. That's the situation we're

talking about here. So," Marder said, "what do you advise us to do,

Ed?"

"Well," Fuller cleared his throat again. "I always advise my

clients to tell the truth."

Of course Michael Crichton's depiction above is fictional, and so may be

exaggerated. However, anyone who is acquainted with 60 Minutes' broadcast The Ugly

Face of Freedom of 23 Oct 1994 - hosted by yourself - cannot help wondering whether

Crichton's depiction might in fact be accurate, at least in occasional instances.

I wonder if you would not at long last care to break your silence and say a word

either of retraction and apology, or if not that, then at least some word in defense

of your broadcast and of your profession?

Yours truly,

Lubomyr Prytulak

cc: Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft, Andy Rooney, Lesley Stahl,

Mike Wallace.

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Morley Safer Letter 5 9Apr99 Who blew the hands off Maksym Tsarenko?

The sort of powerful story that neither you nor Rabbi Bleich were able to find is one of

a Russian summer-camp councillor who had his hands blown off by Ukrainian

nationalists for using the Russian language within Ukraine; or one of a Jewish

summer-camp councillor having his hands blown off by Ukrainian nationalists for using

Hebrew or Yiddish within Ukraine. Such things do not happen within Ukraine to either

Russians or to Jews - they happen only to Ukrainians.

April 9, 1999

Morley Safer

60 Minutes, CBS Television

51 W 52nd Street

New York, NY

USA 10019

Morley Safer:

Who Blew The Hands Off

Maksym Tsarenko?

The photograph above shows Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma bestowing the Order of

Yaroslaw the Wise on Maksym Tsarenko. My free translation of the text which explains

the photograph is as follows:

Among the first recipients of the Order, awarded on the fourth

anniversary of the national independence of Ukraine, were leading

Ukrainian workers in the fields of culture, art, and law: O.

Basystiuk, A. Mokrenko, and F. Burchak.

On this same day, the president of Ukraine also bestowed this mark

of distinction, "for valor" upon twenty-year-old student at the

Vynnytsia Pedagogical Institute, Maksym Tsarenko.

During the summer holidays, Maksym was working as a councillor at a

summer camp for young girls near Yevpatoria, Crimea.

Haters of Ukraine, who rush to propose the view that Crimea is not a

peninsula attached to Ukraine, but rather is an island unconnected

to Ukraine, reacted with hostility to this summer camp, especially

provoked by the Ukrainian language spoken by the Ukrainian children,

which dared to resound even within Ukrainian Crimea. The hatred

mounted to such an irrepressible degree that it provoked the bandits

to the most egregious crime: they constructed an explosive and threw

it into the window of the children's dormitory. Ten or so children

could have been killed by the explosion. But the young Ukrainian

councillor showed no confusion as to his duty. He picked up the

bomb, shielding it with his own body, and jumped out of the

building. Unfortunately, the bomb went off, seriously wounding

Maksym.

The best local surgeons fought for several days to save the boy's

life. Thanks to them, the youth's life was spared. Unfortunately,

it was not possible to save his hands.

No one can accuse the recipient of not having earned his award.

Ukrainian awards, in contrast to Soviet, are fully deserved.

(Ukrainian-language newspaper, Novyi Shliakh (New Pathway) of

7Oct95, based on the earlier report in Ukrains'ke Slovo, (Ukrainian

Word), Kyiv, No. 37, 14Sep95)

The above story of Maksym Tsarenko compels me to ask - not for the first time - who

is in danger in Ukraine? The Western media urge us to accept that it is Jews and

Russians who are in danger, threatened by Ukrainian nationalists. That, for example,

is the conclusion of your infamous 60 Minutes broadcast The Ugly Face of Freedom of

23Oct94. However, you came back from your brief visit to Ukraine with no data to

substantiate such a claim. Almost a year ago, the Ukrainian Archive has requested

both of you and of Rabbi Bleich the evidence backing your report of violence against

Jews, and neither of you has as yet condescended to reply, strengthening the

suspicion that your story was fabricated.

The sort of powerful story that neither you nor Rabbi Bleich were able to find is one

of a Russian summer-camp councillor who had his hands blown off by Ukrainian

nationalists for using the Russian language within Ukraine; or one of a Jewish

summer-camp councillor having his hands blown off by Ukrainian nationalists for using

Hebrew or Yiddish within Ukraine. Such things do not happen within Ukraine to either

Russians or to Jews - they happen only to Ukrainians. It is the story of Ukrainians

being persecuted within Ukraine that you could have richly documented and broadcast

to the world. The story of Maksym Tsarenko can be found multiplied many times over

the torture-murders of Ukrainian activist Volodymyr Katelnytsky and his mother in

their Kyiv apartment providing a recent example. The contrasting story of Jewish or

Russian victimization within Ukraine is bogus - and yet that is the story that you

unscrupulously chose to broadcast.

Lubomyr Prytulak

cc: Rabbi Bleich, Ed Bradley, Jeffrey Fager, Don Hewitt, Steve Kroft, Andy Rooney,

Lesley Stahl, Mike Wallace.

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Morley Safer Letter 6 20Apr99 What kind of people run 60 Minutes?

Women who worked in the "60 Minutes" offices described to Hertsgaard a sexually

charged environment that had more in common with a drunken frat party than a

professional newsroom. - Carol Lloyd

The excerpt quoted in my letter to Morley Safer below is taken from a Carol Lloyd's A

Feel For a Good Story of 17Mar98, published on the web site Mothers Who Think, whose

home page can be accessed by clicking on the link immediately above, or on the logo

immediately below:

60 Minutes Executive Producer,

Don Hewitt.

But the charges against Hewitt make Clinton's alleged behavior look

like clumsy courtship. One woman described to Hertsgaard how

Hewitt slammed her against a wall, pinned her there and forced his

tongue down her throat. - Carol Lloyd

April 20, 1999

Morley Safer

60 Minutes, CBS Television

51 W 52nd Street

New York, NY

USA 10019

Morley Safer:

I call to your attention the following excerpt from Carol Lloyd's A Feel For a Good

Story, published on the web site Mothers Who Think on 17Mar98. I will be asking you

further below whether the information provided by Carol Lloyd might help explain your

23Oct94 60 Minutes broadcast, The Ugly Face of Freedom:

The irony is that Hewitt - the creator of the TV show famous for

unveiling corruption and hypocrisy among the powerful - has been

accused of worse deeds than any of the sexual charges leveled at

Clinton.

In 1991, reporter Mark Hertsgaard, author of "On Bended Knee: The

Press and the Reagan Presidency," wrote an article for Rolling Stone

magazine in which he documented Hewitt's own serious problems with

impulse control. Women who worked in the "60 Minutes" offices

described to Hertsgaard a sexually charged environment that had more

in common with a drunken frat party than a professional newsroom.

Correspondent Mike Wallace was singled out for bottom slapping, lewd

comments and unsnapping co-workers' bras.

While today no one would hesitate to call such behavior sexual

harassment, Wallace's cheerful willingness to do it in public - even

in front of a stranger - made him seem like a good (albeit

unpleasant) old boy. But the charges against Hewitt make Clinton's

alleged behavior look like clumsy courtship. One woman described to

Hertsgaard how Hewitt slammed her against a wall, pinned her there

and forced his tongue down her throat. Hewitt vehemently denied the

story and all other allegations to Hertsgaard, while Wallace

admitted his own antics and promised they would never happen again.

Rolling Stone eventually published Hertsgaard's article in a

drastically reduced form, although Hertsgaard says Hewitt pulled all

the strings he could to get the story killed. In an interview from

his home in Takoma Park, Md., Hertsgaard spoke to Salon about the

allegations of sexual harassment at "60 Minutes" that never made it

into print - and about how the "men's club" within the media exposes

other sexually reckless men, but still protects its own.

Your story has some pretty explosive accusations against Don

Hewitt. How did you come to write the piece?

Sexual harassment was not the point of the investigation. I

literally witnessed sexual harassment on my first day of interviews

at "60 Minutes" and women began to tell me about it, so it gradually

found its way into the story. But that wasn't the point, it just was

so pervasive at the time that you couldn't miss it.

What did you witness when you were there?

The first day I was in the corridor talking with a female staffer

and I saw out of the corner of my eye Mr. Wallace coming down the

hall. He didn't know me yet because I hadn't interviewed him, so he

had no idea that it was a reporter standing there. I'm sure it

would have changed his mind. Anyway, just before he reached her she

pushed both her hands behind her bottom, like a little kid trying to

ward off a mama's spanking, and got up on her toes and leaned away.

But that didn't stop him. As he went by, he swatted her on the butt

with a rolled up magazine or newspaper or something like that.

That's no big deal, one could say, but I must say it did raise my

eyebrows. I said to her, "God, does that happen all the time?" and

she said, "Are you kidding? That is nothing." And that led to

people telling me how he'd also unsnap your bra strap or snap it for

you. So he had a reputation for that.

Then I also heard about this far-more-worrisome incident with Hewitt

and that one did get into the piece, although in a much censored

form, where he lunges at a woman in a deserted place, pins her

against the wall and sticks his tongue in her mouth. There were

other incidents women told me about Hewitt, and, of course, (former)

Washington Post journalist Sally Quinn was already on the record in

her book "We're Going to Make You a Star" accusing Hewitt of making

an aggressive pass at her and sabotaging her work when she refused

him.

Was the sexual harassment at "60 Minutes" pervasive?

It sure seemed that way. There's a woman quoted in my story saying

that Mike would constantly have his hands on your thigh, or

whatnot. One producer said that basically Mike Wallace and Don

Hewitt felt this was their right. And that's how a lot of men in

television felt for many years. Women were basically hired for

their looks. You had to be competent too, but you damn well better