Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
CBS News Won't Release Bennett Tape
> NEW YORK (AP) -- CBS News rejected a White House request
> Wednesday to release a transcript or tape of the full
> 45-minute interview given by presidential lawyer Robert
> Bennett this weekend in response to Kathleen Willey.
>
> Bennett complained that his ``60 Minutes'' interview
> responding to Willey's charges that President Clinton
> had made unwanted sexual advances was edited to make him
> look bad.
>
> Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry said he'd received
> at least a half dozen requests from reporters for the
> full transcript of the interview.
>
> Releasing outtakes of a broadcast interview would be
> highly unusual, if not unprecedented, for CBS or any
> other news organization. Spokeswoman Sandra Genelius
> said it was tantamount to releasing a reporter's notes.
>
> ``We consider it notes and background information,'' she
> said. ``The piece that we put on the air is fully
> representative of the interview.''
>
> The White House has reacted aggressively in the wake of
> Willey's interview on Sunday, which catapulted ``60
> Minutes'' to the top of the weekly television ratings
> for the first time since 1994. Clinton aides released a
> series of letters showing Willey had corresponded with
> the president after he allegedly made a crude sexual
> advance outside the Oval Office.
>
> McCurry said release of the CBS transcript would allow
> viewers to see whether correspondent Ed Bradley was
> ``hostile'' in his questioning of Bennett. CBS aired a 3
> 1/2-minute portion of Bennett's interview on ``60
> Minutes.''
>
> Bennett complained that CBS intentionally used a portion
> of the interview where he had looked down and away from
> the camera.
>
> ``I think it was a hit job on the president,'' he said
> of the full ``60 Minutes'' report. ``I think it told a
> one-sided story.''
>
> CBS declined to speculate on White House motives for
> publicly pushing for release of the Bennett interview.
>
> ``It was a strong and responsible interview,'' Genelius
> said. ``We wholeheartedly stand by it.''
--
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