60 Minutes Apology To Viewers

The CBS television program 60 Minutes on Sunday broadcast an unusual apology for airing a story about heroin smuggling that a British panel determined was a fake.

The CBS report was based on The Connection, a British documentary that said Colombia's Cali drug cartel had opened a new heroin smuggling route to London.

The 60 Minutes broadcast aired on June 1, 1997. After the film's authenticity was challenged, an independent panel of lawyers and TV producers investigated and determined that producers had faked locations and paid actors to portray drug couriers.

Don Hewitt, executive producer of 60 Minutes, read the apology at the end of Sunday's program.