The CNN Controversy

December 31, 2002



Mr. Walter Isaacson
Chairman
CNN
One CNN Center
Atlanta, Georgia 30303

Dear Mr. Isaacson:

I read with great interest a recent story in The New York Times stating that CNN wants to be the leading source of information should the United States go to war with Iraq. But when it has come to the reporting of a major legal story concerning my client, CNN has proven to be the least reliable or accurate of any of the news media who have covered this story.

I'm sure you are familiar with the case. Over the past seven years Anna Nicole Smith has been involved in litigation with my client, E. Pierce Marshall. Time and time again we have had to ask for corrections or retractions from CNN and that is the case with the latest story recently posted on CNN.com/Law Center.

September 29, 2000 A Roger Cossack article on the litigation that was badly out of date and inaccurate.

May 29, 2002 Anna Nicole Smith appears on the Larry King program and talks about the litigation. Despite our best efforts, King's staff declines to permit us to respond. They refused to allow us to speak to a producer so we could provide background and perspective on the case. As a result, Smith and her attorney were permitted to make a large number of inaccurate statements about ongoing litigation without challenge from Mr. King.

The CNN Web site promoting the program misidentifies a living member of the Marshall family as the late J. Howard Marshall.

December 25, 2002 CNN.com/Law Center runs an article titled "Family Feud: The Ties That Bind and Sue," by Court TV reporter Christina Lewis. The article contains three factual errors, one of which completely misstates the legal issues in the case.

I'm sure you are familiar with the case. Ironically, when we were stonewalled by Mr. King's staff, the Fox News Channel provided us with an opportunity to set the record straight.

For your background, I have provided you with the letters we have written to CNN concerning some of these issues.

It is our hope that CNN will correct the information on the CNN.com/Law Center page and will no longer allow only one side of a legal issue to appear on any of its programs without providing the other side an opportunity to respond.

Please feel free to have your staff contact me if I can provide you with any additional information.


Sincerely,


David S. Margulies
President



DSM:je

Enclosures

____________________________________________



May 28, 2002



Larry King Live
CNN
Washington, D.C.

Dear Mr. King:

I represent the people Anna Nicole Smith has sued over the estate of her late husband. Your web site notes that she will be a guest on your program this Wednesday.

Over the past year a number of prominent news organizations, including the Associated Press, have had to run retractions because of incorrect or misleading information provided by the Smith camp concerning this litigation. One of Smith's attorneys has already lost an $8 million libel suit based on her media interviews concerning this case. Your own web site promoting her appearance contains three significant factual errors (Miss Smith was never married to J. Howard Marshall III, her late husband was never a billionaire and to date she has not netted a nickel from her litigation).

We know that Larry King's reputation for fairness and honesty is important to CNN and the success of your program. So we are offering you a guest who will be able to tell the other side of the story for your program as well as background information concerning the litigation.

Please understand that my client is an individual who has had his personal reputation savaged because he followed his father's estate plan which was clearly spelled out over a period of several decades in six wills and seven trusts. He will take all appropriate steps necessary to correct any misinformation that Miss Smith or her attorneys are permitted to present without challenge.

Please contact me as soon as possible so that we have a further discussion concerning these issues.



Sincerely,



David S. Margulies
President



Cc: CNN Corporate Counsel's Office


____________________________________________

Response from CNN


To: 'David Margulies'
Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2002 7:16 PM
Subject: Larry King Live

Dear Mr. Margulies,

I have received your voicemail, your page, your e-mail, and a copy of the letter you sent to Larry King.

CNN's Larry King Live is a program that showcases interviews of famous people and newsmakers talking about current issues that are interesting and important to CNN's viewers. Ms. Smith will be discussing issues that are not only matters of public record, but matters of great public interest.

As you are aware, the interview has not yet aired on Larry King Live. Any concern about its content, at this point, is mere speculation on your part. There is simply no indication that the interview will contain actionable misstatements. Your reference to previous misstatements on CNN by one of our former legal correspondents is one you should feel free to follow-up with facts, should you wish to properly demand a retraction or correction. This vague reference in no way builds your case that CNN has a history of mistakes in reporting on this subject matter.

CNN declines your offer of an interview during the same program as that featuring Ms. Smith. Should the network choose to interview your clients, efforts will be made to contact them or their spokespersons to make those arrangements.

Please contact me, or have Mr. Marshall's attorney contact me, after the interview airs should Mr. Marshall have a complaint about the content of the interview and wish to request a correction.

Sincerely,

Pilar Keagy Johnson


____________________________________________

Response to CNN

Thank you for your response. Let me make sure I understand what you have said. Unlike every other news organization that has covered this story including: ABC News, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Fox News, People Magazine,etc., etc. CNN is not interested in any background information that would allow Mr. King to ask informed questions concerning a series of complex cases involving Ms. Smith.
No CNN producer has the time or interest to look at a list of possible questions, review court documents or other "matters of public record" that would shed light on these complex issues. This is the case after CNN was so sloppy in its initial research that they identified her late husband by the wrong name - identifying a man who is alive and in good health and married to someone else!!!

You are correct in your legal position, but I do not think Mr. King wants to make a fool of himself on national television. I repeat our offer to have someone speak with one of your producers or provide specific background information concerning this case. Ms. Smith has not received a penny from my client and according to a Texas court (with actual jurisdiction over the late J. Howard Marshall II's estate) she owes my client $541,000. If we are forced to complain after the fact, and after the damage is done, I think Mr. King will ask why someone didn't do the initial research on this story correctly the first time.

Enclosed is a copy of the letter we wrote to CNN following the publication of an outdated and inaccurate web page article on the same case.

Feel free to contact me tomorrow morning or have someone on the production staff contact me for additional information.

Perhaps Mr. King is such a gifted interviewer that he can spend time with a woman a federal judge has called "illiterate" and never mention the court cases that have kept her name in the newspapers. If that is the case, I will gladly send you an apology on Thursday morning.

____________________________________________


Response from CNN


Dear Mr. Margulies,

I have reviewed your e-mail and its attachment.

CNN and the producers at Larry King Live have consulted various resources for information about Ms. Smith and the public proceedings involving her and the Marshall family.

CNN appreciates you pointing out the error in our website copy that promoted the Larry King interview of Ms. Smith. That error was corrected yesterday.

I have reviewed the letter you sent last July to Liza Hogan at cnn.com. As you are no doubt aware, given your news background, "outdated" news material can be found on thousands of websites and in libraries throughout the world. Archives are not purged of outdated material simply because more recent events have added new chapters to the stories that chronicle human events.

CNN stands by its position as set forth in my previous e-mail.

Sincerely,

Pilar Keagy Johnson