Analysis Of "The Insider
Assignment 3
In the movie “The insider” what factors impeded responsible behavior in the media organization? What prompted the producer of the TV show (60 minutes) to be responsible despite this?
In the movie, Lowell Bergman, who was working with the TV show” 60 minutes”, encouraged Jeffery Wigand ,a former Vice President of Tobacco giant Brown & Williamson to feature in an interview revealing the truth about the harmful effects of smoking.
The movie portrays Lowell as being on the "inside" of CBS and fighting against its poor journalistic decisions. He was determined to air the interview with Jeffery , but CBS( the news channel) was threatened by Brownson &Williamson of prosecution for what they referred as” tortuous interference” .Because of this threat CBS decide to air an edited version of the interview to avoid any face off with Brownson & Williams. This act of the channel shattered Lowell’s trust in his organization as he had a strong faith in ethical and moral standing of CBS corporation.
Another factor that impeded responsible behavior in CBS was that CBS and the Westinghouse Corporation were going for a merger .The files found by Lowell, listed the names of those who would benefit from the merger, including Eric Kluster and Helen Caperell . If CBS did air the actual interview and got caught up in an expensive lawsuit with Brown & Williamson, the merger could have gone down the drain. Andrew Tisch, son of CBS chairman Laurence Tisch, was the chairman of Lorillard, one of the "Seven Dwarves" of big tobacco. He was present April 14th, 1994 as part of the Waxman trials where he testified that he believed nicotine was not addictive before congress.
The producers of 60 minutes decided to air the actual version of the show because Lowell turned aggressive and leaked the situation to the New York Times editorial department .Due to this CBS corporation was put under pressure to air
In the movie “The insider” what factors impeded responsible behavior in the media organization? What prompted the producer of the TV show (60 minutes) to be responsible despite this?
In the movie, Lowell Bergman, who was working with the TV show” 60 minutes”, encouraged Jeffery Wigand ,a former Vice President of Tobacco giant Brown & Williamson to feature in an interview revealing the truth about the harmful effects of smoking.
The movie portrays Lowell as being on the "inside" of CBS and fighting against its poor journalistic decisions. He was determined to air the interview with Jeffery , but CBS( the news channel) was threatened by Brownson &Williamson of prosecution for what they referred as” tortuous interference” .Because of this threat CBS decide to air an edited version of the interview to avoid any face off with Brownson & Williams. This act of the channel shattered Lowell’s trust in his organization as he had a strong faith in ethical and moral standing of CBS corporation.
Another factor that impeded responsible behavior in CBS was that CBS and the Westinghouse Corporation were going for a merger .The files found by Lowell, listed the names of those who would benefit from the merger, including Eric Kluster and Helen Caperell . If CBS did air the actual interview and got caught up in an expensive lawsuit with Brown & Williamson, the merger could have gone down the drain. Andrew Tisch, son of CBS chairman Laurence Tisch, was the chairman of Lorillard, one of the "Seven Dwarves" of big tobacco. He was present April 14th, 1994 as part of the Waxman trials where he testified that he believed nicotine was not addictive before congress.
The producers of 60 minutes decided to air the actual version of the show because Lowell turned aggressive and leaked the situation to the New York Times editorial department .Due to this CBS corporation was put under pressure to air