Page "The Insider (film)" Paragraph 16

Bergman and Wallace go to a meeting with CBS Corporate about the Wigand interview.

The applicability of a legal theory has emerged, one known as tortious interference: if two parties have an agreement, such as a confidentiality agreement, and one of those parties is induced by a third party to break that agreement, the third party can be sued by the other parties for any damages.

The more truth Wigand tells, the greater the damage, the theory applied goes, and a greater likelihood that CBS will be faced by a multi-billion dollar lawsuit from Brown & Williamson.

It is later suggested that an edited interview take the place of the original.

Bergman vehemently disagrees, and claims that the reason CBS Corporate is leaning on CBS News to edit the interview is because they fear that the prospect of a multi-billion dollar lawsuit could jeopardize the sale of CBS to Westinghouse.

Wallace and Don Hewitt agree to edit the interview, leaving Bergman alone advocating airing it uncensored.