The Ethics Of Giving Extremists A Platform

As part of a story on "eco-terrorists" that aired yesterday, "60 Minutes" correspondent Ed Bradley interviewed Dr. Jerry Vlasak, a Los Angeles trauma surgeon who advocates assassinating animal researchers and others to slow down what he considers animal abuse. (For the inside story of Bradley's interview with another so-called "eco-terrorist" – one who dressed for the interview in ninja garb – go here.)

I asked Bradley and producer Graham Messick if they had second thoughts about giving Vlasak a national forum to advocate violence.

Messick says he did have "big second thoughts" about "giving him a soapbox." But he says the story and interview were worth doing because the FBI has said eco-terrorists are a significant terrorist threat, one that is ratcheting up its rhetoric. Therefore, Messick says, they shouldn't be ignored. And Vlasak "isn't an outsider or an interloper. He's part of the movement. And for him to be out there saying these things is important."

"It all goes to what our core mission is," he adds. "Are we going to look at phenomena and events and things happening in our country, or are we going to ignore them because we don't happen to agree with them? Nobody's ever done that about the anti-abortion movement, which got progressively more violent. Nobody's ever denied them a soapbox to espouse their views why they think abortion is murder."

Bradley, meanwhile, says he is "not concerned" about giving Vlasak a platform. "I think somebody is going to hear it anyway," he says. "What do you do – do you not report it? It's in newspapers. It's in magazines. I can't say this is too dangerous for me to report."

As for interviewing someone with extreme views, Bradley says he simply does his best to keep himself out of the story. "You've got to sit down and listen to someone who says an individual is the same as a hamster," he says. "O.K. if that's your belief. It doesn't happen to be mine. I wear leather shoes. I enjoy a steak."

"He has extreme beliefs," adds Bradley, "but he has a right to believe them."