ANOTHER '60 MINUTES' APOLOGY ON A DRUG SMUGGLING STORY

For the second time in four months, CBS's "60 Minutes" has made an on-air
apology regarding a report about drug smuggling. This time it's over a memo
that turned out to be bogus.

Correspondent Lesley Stahl delivered the apology on Sunday's broadcast, as
part of a settlement with a customs official who had sued the newsmagazine.

In December, "60 Minutes" founder Don Hewitt apologized on-air for a June 1,
1997, story based on a British documentary about smugglers who swallowed
heroin in latex gloves to get past authorities. An investigative panel later
determined that the documentary producers had faked locations and paid
actors to portray drug couriers.

In Sunday's apology, Stahl emphasized that the April 20, 1997, segment
accurately reported on the flow of illegal drugs across the U.S.-Mexico
border at San Diego.

But that report, which was presented by Mike Wallace, cited a memo said to
be written by Rudy Camacho, the San Diego district director of the Customs
Service, calling for customs agents to quickly process trucks owned by a
company linked to Mexican drug cartels.

The Customs Service in Washington investigated and found the memo to be
fake, and that no preferential treatment was offered, Stahl said. "60
Minutes" had already reported in February 1998 that the memo was declared
bogus. But Camacho sued; the on-air apology was part of an "amicable
settlement" between him and CBS News, a "60 Minutes" spokesman said.

"We have concluded that we were deceived, and ultimately so were you, our
viewers," Stahl said. "Under the circumstances, we regret that any reference
to that memo or to Mr. Camacho's connection with it was included in our
original report and apologize for any harm to Mr. Camacho's professional
reputation and any distress caused to him and his family."

So how come the apology wasn't given by Wallace? The "60 Minutes" rep says
Wallace was in California last Thursday and Friday on a story.

More than 300 CBS news writers, news editors, graphic artists and support
personnel have voted to authorize their union negotiators to call a strike
if contract talks don't reach resolution by Thursday.

The Writers Guild of America reports that voters, who work in TV and radio
for CBS in New York City, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles, gave a thumbs
up "by a resounding 94 percent margin."

The vote authorizes WGA to call a strike , but does not mandate a work
stoppage. At the end of the day yesterday, the parties were still far apart.

Among the issues, according to WGA East spokesman Vito Turso, are the
network's revision of the pension plan to a stock-option-based plan, a
proposed cut of five personal days, a planned changeover from negotiated pay
raises to merit raises, and cutting paid lunch hours for assistants.

CBS's Dan Rather has become the first broadcast network anchor to cover the
NATO bombing campaign from Yugoslavia.

Rather arrived in Belgrade yesterday morning and opened the "CBS Evening
News" broadcast last night from there.

CBS is hoping that the high-profile trip may help viewers forget that the
network has gone without a correspondent in Yugoslavia for more than two
weeks since the bombing began.

CBS correspondent Mark Phillips was among the journalists from NATO
countries ordered out by the Serbian government. It has since softened that
stance, but CBS couldn't get anyone back in until Rather and correspondent
Richard Roth received approval yesterday.

NBC has no plans to send anchor Tom Brokaw. "We're evaluating the story
daily but Brokaw's most effective role is as anchor reporting on the
different elements from New York," an NBC News spokeswoman said.
Correspondents Jim Maceda and Ron Allen have been delivering reports from
Yugoslavia since the airstrikes began.

Ditto ABC regarding anchor Peter Jennings. "At the moment we don't have
plans to send Peter," said an ABC News rep. "As the situation changes and
the story develops we'll consider it. . . . Until there is change, the best
place to have Peter is in New York." ABC's Morton Dean was admitted to the
country last week; he will be delieved by Ron Claiborne later this week.
The network also had Charles Gibson in the region last week.

Although Rather plans to report from Yugoslavia, CBS isn't taking the chance
of having him anchor the entire news report because it doesn't trust the
reliability of the satellite feed, spokeswoman Kim Akhtar said.

Talk show host Jenny Jones finally took the stand yesterday and said she did
not try to embarrass show guest Jonathan Schmitz, who has claimed his
experience on her show was so humiliating it drove him to kill another guest.

Jones testified in a Pontiac, Mich., courtroom that Schmitz showed no sign
that he would kill Scott Amedure after the taping of the show about same-sex
crushes. Amedure's family has filed the $50 million suit against two
divisions of Time Warner that produce the show, claiming they drove the
mentally unstable Schmitz to commit murder. Defense lawyers argue that
Schmitz knew his secret admirer could have been a man.

On the March 1995 "Jenny Jones" taping, which never aired, Amedure revealed
to a studio audience his fantasy of tying Schmitz up in a hammock and
covering him with whipped cream and strawberries.

"I didn't think it would be embarrassing," Jones told Geoffrey Fieger, the
lawyer for Amedure's family. Fieger asked Jones how she would feel if a
stranger disclosed his sexual fantasies of her in front of the court.

"It could be exciting," Jones said, causing laughter in the courtroom,
Reuters reported.

Deborah Norville has renewed her contract to host syndicated newsmagazine
"Inside Edition." The former "Today Show" co-anchor has been hosting the
show since 1995.

James Rosen has joined Fox News as a correspondent based in the Washington
bureau and Brian Boughton has been promoted to senior producer, responsible
for the cable network's White House coverage.

Rosen, who will report for the Fox News Channel and Fox affiliate stations,
has most recently been an anchor and reporter with the cable channel News 12
The Bronx. His resume also includes reporting for the NBC station in
Rockford, Ill., and for WWOR-TV in New York.

Broughton has been a Fox News producer, covering the president. He began his
career as an assignment editor for Tribune Broadcasting, based in Washington.

CBS News's senior European correspondent Tom Fenton is at Georgetown
University today to receive the 1999 Edward Weintal Prize for distinguished
reporting on foreign policy and diplomacy.

Fenton's been senior European correspondent since 1979, reporting out of
London since 1996, and before that out of Moscow, London, Paris, Tel Aviv
and Rome. He's the third CBS News correspondent to get the prize, joining
Bob Simon and Eric Sevareid.