60 minutes tobacco scandal Watch Overtime: Jeffrey Wigand: The big whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand and Big Tobacco

60 Minutes was under incredible pressure from the corporation. The Times opinion added, This act of self-censorship by the countrys most powerful and aggressive television news program sends a chilling message to journalists investigating industry practices everywhere.

Wigand says he asked him to write a memo backing him up, but Appleton refused, perhaps afraid for his job

If the state attorneys general, with an assist from Jeffrey Wigand, were to succeed in proving that cigarettes are addictive, the cigarette companies could be forced into settling the hundreds of thousands of plaintiff actions that would result

Wigand, to lose your wife and children and have every aspect of your personal life up for grabs and interpretation in the middle of a smear

I felt dirty

We are trading 50 years of gold standard reputation for a single week of political quiet." In her memo, she also invoked the infamous Jeffrey Wigand saga, when "60 Minutes" was pressured by corporate executives not to air an interview with the tobacco industry whistleblower for fear of litigation