The Backdraft From "Valley of Death": The Fallout From CNN's Explosive Story Is Still Starting Fires
The June 7, 1998 broadcast of "Valley of Death," a CNN prime-time report, triggered a major controversy. The report alleged U.S. government use of nerve gas against American defectors during Operation Tailwind, a counter-insurgency operation in the Laotian theater of the Vietnam War. After critics questioned the veracity of the report, CNN conducted an internal investigation, which led to the firing of senior producer Pam Hill and the two producers responsible for the story, Jack Smith and April Oliver.
Veteran correspondent Peter Arnett, who reported the story on camera subsequently left CNN because of the fallout. Smith and Oliver accused CNN of buckling to outside pressure from the Pentagon and retired military officers. Some of those interviewed for the story allegedly reversed themselves, claiming they were misquoted, and are now suing CNN along with Smith and Oliver.
When CNN's outside counsel, Floyd Abrams, delivered his report distancing CNN from its own story, he stipulated that while the story was not proven to network standards, neither was it faked or false. CNN promised to pursue its investigation, but never did so. The Media Channel has learned that CNN did commission a softer documentary on the military unit at the center of the Tailwind investigation, the top secret Studies and Observations Group (SOG). The film was proposed by an independent company, Pacific Street Films, in September l998 with an ex-Green Beret, John Plaster, acting as a go-between. Pacific Street began shooting the film, working on it until May l999, when CNN pulled the plug; the network's stated reason was "advice of counsel" in light of impending litigation. According to a report by Max Robins in TV Guide, "CNN lawyers had advised it was 'inappropriate' to proceed with a project directly addressing Operation Tailwind while litigation is pending." CNN executives then suggested taking the project to another Time Warner company, HBO, which passed without comment. TV Guide suggested that the original purpose of doing the new documentary was to "make peace" with angry vets. When CNN distanced itself from the projects, the angry vets in question became even angrier. The litigation has had a further "chilling effect" on the investigation, but has in no way dampened the passions on all sides.
As the many Tailwind cases creep through the courts, the Media Channel invited ex-CNN producer April Oliver, now a law student, to update her side of the story, which appears in this Media Channel "dossier. In an original article, "The Ghosts of Korea and Vietnam," she explores the parallels between the response to her original CNN investigation and the more recent reaction to a well-documented Associated Press report on the massacre of Korean civilians by American soldiers during that conflict.
We also offer a press release on the status of Oliver's lawsuit against CNN, as well as the transcript of her interview with retired General John Singlaub who at the time of the interview confirmed CNN's story but later disavowed his support. Oliver has released the confidential transcript to her interview with Singlaub on the grounds that Singlaub broke their confidentiality agreement.
John Plaster |
The Media Channel also offers links to various CNN documents, news coverage and media commentary, as well as an analysis of the events in question by John Plaster, a Vietnam veteran who claims to offer the true story about Operation Tailwind.
The Media Channel encourages continuing debate and discussion of issues that go to the heart of investigative reporting of covert activities, as well as the courage of corporate news organizations. We also invite other journalists to share their experiences reporting similar issues.
Caveat Lector:
Truth is a key issue in the ongoing dispute over Operation Tailwind, and the controversial CNN TV investigative report produced by April Oliver and Jack Smith.
Who said what to whom? Were sources misquoted or taken out of context? Some of these issues are being litigated. The producers insist that high-level former military officers confirmed essential findings in their story. Some of the sources deny it. April Oliver sent the Media Channel notes of an interview with one of her sources, retired General John Singlaub, a controversial political and military officer known for his hostility to the press and his involvement in far-right causes such as his chairmanship of a 1984 Pentagon panel on military interventions in Central America or his tenure, in the mid-80's, as head of the World Anti-Communist League, which supported counter-insurgency forces like the Nicaraguan Contras. The Media Channel spoke with the General, who denied April Oliver's interpretation of his remarks and disputed their accuracy. As well, we've provided links to Web sites containing supporting evidence for both sides of the argument (see right-hand column). While Ms. Oliver vouches for the accuracy of her notes, the Media Channel offers them as only one of many exhibits in this tangled case. In the following "dossier," we offer a range of perspectives on the unresolved issues in this controversy.
—The Media Channel
Jack Smith and April Oliver. Photo by Scott McLay, courtesy of 