’60 Minutes’ creator: I would have avoided Guard story

By The Associated Press

10.11.04

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The creator of "60 Minutes," Don Hewitt, said Sept. 30 he would not have done the story on President Bush's National Guard service that got CBS anchor Dan Rather in so much hot water.

Rather apologized Sept. 20 for a Sept. 8 "60 Minutes" story that cited documents purported to be from one of Bush's commanders in the Texas Air National Guard. Numerous questions have been raised about the documents' authenticity.

Speaking on a South Dakota Public Broadcasting radio show, Hewitt said the story was an old one that had already been dealt with in the 2000 presidential campaign.

"I never would have done the story," said Hewitt, who retired in June as the show's executive producer after 36 years.

"I would have been very wary injecting myself into a campaign. You've got to be very careful that you're not perceived as doing the job that one of the two candidates should be doing himself."

Hewitt, 82, was in Vermillion to receive the 2004 Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in Journalism at the University of South Dakota.

During the radio show, Hewitt said he's sorry that "60 Minutes" and Rather were perceived as doing Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's job for him "by bringing up an old issue, and they weren't careful enough to not make mistakes. And the minute you make one mistake, you're dead."

Hewitt added that it was "stupid" for Kerry to have injected his Vietnam service into the presidential race, which opened the door for anti-Kerry groups such as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Not only have previous presidential candidate war veterans avoided such talk, but Kerry had followed up his Vietnam service by becoming an outspoken opponent of the war, he said.

"You can't play war hero if it's about a war where you threw your medals away," Hewitt said.