Word: sauter
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...program charged that Westmoreland, while commander of U.S. forces in Viet Nam, joined in "a conspiracy at the highest levels of American military intelligence" to misrepresent enemy troop strength during the year leading up to the January 1968 Tet offensive. In July, CBS News President Van Gordon Sauter, responding to criticism, admitted that the documentary, produced by George Crile, had violated some of CBS'S journalistic ground rules, and that the claim of conspiracy was "inappropriate." But he rejected Westmoreland's demands for a full retraction, though he made an 11th-hour offer of air time for rebuttal...
...suing, win or lose, Westmoreland will probably force CBS to hand over the internal probe of the documentary ordered by Sauter. But he may also open himself to tough questions about his years in Viet Nam. Observes renowned First Amendment Lawyer James Goodale: "The proceedings will probably be long, difficult and expensive for both sides...
...grudging respect of senior news executives at all three major networks. Says Van Gordon Sauter, president of CBS News: "We see CNN as a very good service . . . but not of network quality." Adds Richard Wald, senior vice president for news at ABC: "CNN does a nice, straightforward, basic rendition of the news very competently." Outside analysts are more generous. Anthony Hoffmann, a cable analyst for Warburg Paribas Becker Securities, observes, "People talking to a CNN reporter do not seem to think they are talking to the whole world and so they say things they will not say to the networks...
...Sauter's report treads gingerly when it comes to assessing blame; indeed, none of the staffers who worked on the documentary are cited by name. Says Sauter...
...working on another documentary now." Crile insists: "There is nothing in this broadcast I am ashamed of." Wallace agrees: "Those of us who know this show stand by it without reservations." However, CBS executives plainly do not. They plan a future broadcast on the alleged Viet Nam "deception."Explained Sauter in announcing his moves: "The greatest asset of CBS News is its credibility. Protecting that credibility is the most important thing we do." Last week the CBS eye seemed to blink in embarrassment...