`60 MINUTES' TO APOLOGIZE FOR FAKE

NEW YORK (AP) "60 Minutes" will deliver an unusual on-air apology
Sunday for airing a story about heroin smuggling that a British panel
has determined was a fake.

The CBS report was based on "The Connection," a British documentary
that said Colombia's Cali drug cartel had opened a new heroin
smuggling route to London. It aired on "60 Minutes" on June 1, 1997.

After the film's authenticity was challenged, an independent panel of
lawyers and TV producers investigated and determined that producers
had faked locations and paid actors to portray drug couriers.

Don Hewitt, executive producer of "60 Minutes," will read the apology
at the end of Sunday's show. It will be the first time Hewitt has
appeared in front of cameras on the program he has produced since
1968.

"We, you and television viewers in 14 other countries were taken. To
make amends, we felt obligated to lay it all out in detail and ask you
to please accept our apology," Hewitt's statement reads.

The newsmagazine showed a film clip purporting to show a courier
eluding authorities by swallowing fingers of a latex glove filled with
heroin. But investigators found there was no evidence the person was
carrying heroin "rather than sugar, flour or mints."

The "60 Minutes" report was narrated by Steve Kroft. Upon getting the
documentary, "60 Minutes" interviewed documentary producer Marc de
Beaufort and was satisfied he had a good reputation, Hewitt said. De
Beaufort has blamed a researcher for the "alleged fakery" and said he
didn't believe the panel's conclusions.

CBS also checked with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and was told
that swallowing rubber containers filled with heroin was a smuggling
technique used by the Cali cartel, Hewitt said.

"I think we did our job pretty good in checking it and taking it to
the Drug Enforcement Agency," he said. "Can you always be 100 percent
sure when you do a story based on somebody else's reporting from the
outside?"

The episode will make "60 Minutes" reluctant to rely on stories
largely reported by others, he said.

No "60 Minutes" employee will be disciplined for a role in airing the
story, he said.

Carlton Communications, which made "The Connection" for the British
network Independent Television, has said it will return the eight
awards won by the documentary. The company also promised to refund the
money paid by broadcasters for the rights to show it.

The documentary was aired at least twice in the United States on the
Cinemax network, and portions were provided free to "60 Minutes."

Cinemax also plans an on-air apology at some point, said Quentin
Schaffer, spokesman for HBO Productions, which owns Cinemax.

The incident adds to the media's rough year. In July, CNN apologized
and retracted a story alleging the U.S. military used nerve gas on
Vietnam War defectors. "60 Minutes" also learned this summer that it
and other media outlets were snookered by a convicted killer from
Massachusetts who had won release from prison partly on false claims
that he served in Vietnam.

Checked-by: derek rea