Following demands today by Lance Armstrong’s attorneys for an on-air apology by CBS over the ’60 Minutes’ programme aired on May 22nd, the station has responded by rejecting that call.
The former professional’s attorney Elliot Peters sent a strongly-worded letter to the station, alleging what he said were serious errors in relation to claims that the rider had tested positive during the 2001 Tour de Suisse and sough to have that covered up.
“In the cold light of morning your story was either extraordinarily shoddy, to the point of being reckless and unprofessional, or a vicious hit-and-run job,” Peters said in the letter. “In either case, a categorical on-air apology is required.”
Not so, said CBS News chairman Jeff Fager, who said that the report was "truthful, accurate and fair,” and that Armstrong and his legal team had been given opportunity to respond to each statement made in the programme.
Notably, the letter from Armstrong’s attorneys focussed on the Tour de Suisse claims rather than addressing a wide range of other allegations made in the programme. These included suggestions that his long time right hand man, George Hincapie, had testified under oath that performance enhancing drugs were taken by Armstrong and others.
Hincapie has played down those claims, saying that he wants to focus on the future rather than the past. He hasn’t denied the content of what was said, but rather stated that he hadn’t himself spoken to 60 Minutes.
The full response from Fager is as follows:
60 MINUTES stands by its story as truthful, accurate and fair. Lance Armstrong and his lawyers were given numerous opportunities to respond to every detail of our reporting for weeks prior to the broadcast and their written responses were fairly and accurately included in the story. Mr. Armstrong still has not addressed charges by teammates Tyler Hamilton and George Hincapie that he used performance enhancing drugs with them.
1) The letter from Keker & Van Nest, Mr. Armstrong's attorneys, claims that there was no “positive” or “suspicious” test from the 2001 Tour de Suisse:
Mr. Armstrong's teammate, Tyler Hamilton, told 60 MINUTES about the 2001 Tour de Suisse test. Included in his interview are the same facts that Hamilton reported under oath to U.S. federal officials under the penalty of perjury.
60 MINUTES also reported that the Swiss Anti-Doping Laboratory Director, Dr. Martial Saugy, told U.S. officials and the FBI that that there was a “suspicious” test result from the Tour de Suisse in 2001.
This was confirmed by a number of international officials who have linked the "suspicious" test to Armstrong. In recent days, Dr. Saugy finally confirmed to the media that there were "suspicious" test results.
2) The letter from Armstrong’s attorneys claims that 60 MINUTES was inaccurate in reporting about a meeting between Dr. Saugy, Mr. Armstrong and former U.S. Postal Team Director, Johan Bruyneel:
60 Minutes reported there was a meeting between Dr. Saugy, Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Bruyneel. Dr. Saugy refused our requests for an interview, but after the broadcast he confirmed that the meeting took place. Mr. Armstrong, after our broadcast, said he couldn’t recall that any such meeting took place.
3) Mr. Armstrong's lawyers claim our story was "shoddy," while we found at least three inaccuracies in their letter:
They claimed that 60 MINUTES reported the meeting took place at the Swiss lab; they claimed that 60 MINUTES reported the meeting took place in 2001; and they claimed that 60 MINUTES said it was a "secret" meeting. All three are wrong.
David Howman, managing director of the World Anti-Doping Agency, told 60 MINUTES that any meeting between Mr.Armstrong, Mr. Brunyeel and the Swiss lab director, Dr. Saugy, would be "highly unusual” and “inappropriate.”
Jeff Fager, chairman, CBS News, executive producer, 60 MINUTES