CBS To Armstrong's Attorneys--Fuck Off
BL
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
Mike Jacoubowsky
news:aaSdnRS4KpapJ3vQ...@giganews.com...
And here's the problem with Tyler Hamilton and the 60 minutes piece-
So you believe that Dr. Saugy is in on the fix as well? That he didn't
actually meet with other teams & riders, that he wasn't actually
concerned that the test, at that time, was susceptible to false
positives? Let's face it, the 60 minutes piece was incredibly shoddy
journalism for not looking doing any research beyond Tyler's
allegations. They hid behind "We tried to talk to Lance" stuff as if
that was the extent of due dillegence the story required.
Brian, you'd better hope Novitsky is one heck of a lot sharper tool than
most of the journalists. It's not as if Cyclingnews is the last word in
investigative reporting, yet they seem to have done a far better job
than 60 minutes. The same cyclingnews that had Ricco sitting tight for
the past week with Amore e Vita and then out of the blue announces he's
signed with Meridian-Kamen.
Someone else here pointed out the dangers of "confirmation bias" the
other day. 60 minutes would seem as guilty as anyone here. The worst
thing about this is that it delays the truth. It allows the PR guys and
lawyers to continue their seemingly-endless dance around the truth.
I guess it should be no surprise that, the more dedicated to someone's
eradication, the more they take on the characteristics of that which
they wish to destroy.
Isn't there enough factual truth (as opposed to that which people wish
to be true) to convict Lance, without having to resort to half-truths,
distortions and outright lies? Maybe there is, but it's being obscured
by the shoddy stuff.
--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com
RicodJour
>
> So you believe that Dr. Saugy is in on the fix as well? That he didn't
> actually meet with other teams & riders, that he wasn't actually
> concerned that the test, at that time, was susceptible to false
> positives? Let's face it, the 60 minutes piece was incredibly shoddy
> journalism for not looking doing any research beyond Tyler's
> allegations. They hid behind "We tried to talk to Lance" stuff as if
> that was the extent of due dillegence the story required.
>
> Brian, you'd better hope Novitsky is one heck of a lot sharper tool than
> most of the journalists. It's not as if Cyclingnews is the last word in
> investigative reporting, yet they seem to have done a far better job
> than 60 minutes. The same cyclingnews that had Ricco sitting tight for
> the past week with Amore e Vita and then out of the blue announces he's
> signed with Meridian-Kamen.
>
> Someone else here pointed out the dangers of "confirmation bias" the
> other day. 60 minutes would seem as guilty as anyone here. The worst
> thing about this is that it delays the truth. It allows the PR guys and
> lawyers to continue their seemingly-endless dance around the truth.
>
> I guess it should be no surprise that, the more dedicated to someone's
> eradication, the more they take on the characteristics of that which
> they wish to destroy.
>
> Isn't there enough factual truth (as opposed to that which people wish
> to be true) to convict Lance, without having to resort to half-truths,
> distortions and outright lies? Maybe there is, but it's being obscured
> by the shoddy stuff.
How would the truth help sales? Fear and bullshit sells. Look at
Ailes' $ input to Murdoch's empire. And as Ailes said, "This isn't
journalism, it's a TV show."
R