Send a Map to Jeff Fager

Tell 60 Minutes that Bethlehem is not "completely surrounded"

CBS's flagship news magazine, 60 Minutes, got it wrong when it claimed an Israeli wall encircles the entire city of Bethlehem. In an April 22, 2012 segment entitled "Christians of the Holy Land," 60 Minutes host Bob Simon claimed, "The wall completely surrounds Bethlehem, turning the little town where Christ was born into what its residents call an open air prison." This is simply not true. But more than a year has passed and 60 Minutes has not corrected the record about this and other errors that appeared in the segment.

Staffers at the network know about the errors. CBS News has been contacted by thousands of people about the problems with the segment; a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal drew attention to the errors; and the need for a correction has been raised at CBS shareholders' meetings. But Jeff Fager, chairman of CBS News and executive producer for 60 Minutes, has refused to correct the record. In fact, even after he knew of the challenges to the segment's accuracy, Fager repeated the errors before his fellow congregants at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in New Canaan in April 2013. He told his fellow congregants that Bethlehem is surrounded by a wall. It is not.

It is time for 60 Minutes to broadcast full and forthright corrections of the errors made. You can help by sending a map of the security barrier to Jeff Fager and insisting that CBS abide by its stated commitments to journalistic ethics.

Email 60 Minutes[email protected]
Call CBS's corporate switchboard: 212-975-4321

 

After CBS News Chairman Jeffrey Fager disregarded detailed, substantive information presented to him and defended the distorted segment, CAMERA on August 14, 2012 published the following advertisement in the Wall Street Journal: