Media review (The Insider (Unsafe products/whistleblower)

The Insider Movie Review

The American drama film gets based on a true story of a 60 minutes segment concerning Jeffrey Wigand that first got aired on the CBS news program 60 minutes. Jeffrey Wigand gained recognition as a whistleblower in the tobacco industry when he appeared on the program on February 4, 1996. On the program, Wigand claimed that there was a conspiracy by Brown & Williamson to increase the amount of nicotine in cigarette smoke by intentionally manipulating its tobacco blend. The interview was however not initially aired after Brown & Williamson successfully pressured CBS News to cancel the broadcast. It later got broadcasted after The Wall Street Journal published their version of Wigand’s claims.

The events of this real life white collar crime got portrayed in the 1999 movie the insider directed by Michael Mann.     The crime is when a cigarette manufacturing company by the name Brown & Williamson increases the amount of nicotine in cigarette smoke so as to make them more addictive to tobacco smokers. The company executes this crime intentionally with the aim of making more sales thus huge profits. The manufacturing company does not put into consideration the adverse health impacts of excessive nicotine in cigarette smoke. The negative consequences of nicotine include chest pain, difficulty in breathing, muscle twitching, depression, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, panic attacks, coma, and convulsions. The most common side effects of nicotine include hiccups, nausea, jaw soreness, ulcers, light-headedness, gastrointestinal distress, decreased appetite, and dizziness (DuPont, 1991).

The main character in this American Drama film is Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, who is an executive employee of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company, however, gets fired as the movie starts. Jeffrey Wigand is the whistleblower who claimed that his former company Brown & Williamson was intentionally altering the nicotine content in their products. Wigand, who is a doctor of biochemistry, had got hired by Brown & Williamson Company to research on a better approach to delivering nicotine to minimizing the negative impact of other tobacco compounds (Ebert, 1999). Wigand, however, disagreed with the company’s management including with CEO Thomas Sandefur; hence resulting to him getting fired. Wigand had initially refused to have any discussion about any tobacco company due to a corporate confidentiality agreement that he had signed. However, Wigand and his family soon receive death threats and Wigand agrees to reveal the whole story. In an interview, Wigand claims that Brown & Williamson Company intentionally modifies the content of nicotine in the cigarettes they produce. Wigand also accuses the CEO of Brown & Williamson Company Thomas Sandefur of giving false information to a committee of the Congress. Another character of the film is Lowell Bergman, who is a producer of CBS News for the program 60 minutes. Bergman started investigating the tobacco-related story a long time before Wigand was fired, and was the one who contacted Wigand so that he could assist him in translating some leaked technical documents related to the tobacco story. Bergman interviewed Wigand for the 60 minutes CBS program; however, the airing of the story received numerous objections from the management of the CBS News. Liane Wigand is the wife of Jeffrey Wigand and flees with the children after receiving several death threats. Don Hewitt is the creator and executive producer of the CBS News program 60 minutes and gets summoned together with Bergman and Mike Wallace. Wallace was a regular correspondent of the program 60 minutes. After Caperlli, the legal counsel for CBS News and Kluster, the CBS News president had disputed the original Wigand’s interview, Wallace and Hewitt agreed to edit the interview. Bergman, however, was substantially opposed to that decision. Eric Kluster is the president of CBS News. Kluster was responsible for the initial omission of Wigand’s interview for the 60 minutes segment. Richard Scruggs is a private attorney hired to represent the State of Mississippi in a lawsuit against thirteen tobacco manufacturing industries for state-borne healthcare costs. In the lawsuit, they were seeking for a reimbursement of Medicaid expenses incurred in the treatment of diseases related to smoking. Scruggs got contacted in the film by Bergman to assist in legal concerns. Jack Palladino is a private investigator and attorney who got engaged in counter-investigation against the revelation made by Wigand. Helen Caperelli is the legal counsel for CBS News. Caperelli invoked a legal theory referred to as tortuous interference in which any person who makes another person break a legal agreement is liable to get charged for interference.

The crime got discovered after Wigand the former executive of the Brown & Williamson Company, revealed the illegal activities committed by the company on a CBS News program in an interview with Bergman. Wigand made the claims after his family, and he received several death threats. The discovery of the crime resulted in a series of lawsuits. Wigand got sued by the Brown & Williamson Company for theft, fraud as well as breach of contract. The Company also launched a 500-page smear campaign against Wigand. The case, however, dropped after the settlement of the tobacco industry with the states in 1997 (Capaldi, 2005). There was also the leaking of Wigand’s depositions at the Mississippi and Kentucky state courts resulting in their publication by the Wall Street Journal. It also led to the airing of Wigand’s original interview with CBS News. The tobacco industry also got sued by several states and settlement totaling to millions of dollars got agreed on. The Food Drug and Administration entity also got into a lawsuit against Brown & Williamson Company seeking the regulatory power over tobacco products. The Court of Appeals ruled that Food Drug and Administration dad no jurisdiction to regulate tobacco products (Ruger Theodore, 2010).

The unlawful actions in the movie signify the widespread greed for money by the Brown & Williamson Company. The desire gets entirely based on the greed for money as well as arrogance. The company committed the crime with the aim of increasing sales and marinating tremendous profitability. The company ignored all the adverse consequences their products would have on users in the greed for money. The company also ignored the research conducted by Dr. Jeffrey Wigand as well as his recommendations which aimed at improving tobacco additives. The reason cited by the corporation for not implementing his findings and recommendations was due to they would result in decreased sales.

In discussing if the propensity to engage in unlawful conduct systemic; that is, is it inherent in a competitive, free-enterprise economic system in a society oriented toward the individual Or was criminal behavior caused solely by bad apples, rogue employees whose character flaws led them to cheat and steal? In the movie “The Insider” the criminal activity that occurred got orchestrated by a few individuals who got pushed by the greed for money. The managers of the company cheated due to their want of money, and they're uncaring and disrespectful character towards public health.

References

Capaldi, N. (2005). Business and Religion: A Clash of Civilizations?. M & M Scrivener Press.

DuPont, R. L. (1991). The Clinical Management of Nicotine Dependence. JAMA, 266(22), 3202-3203.

Ebert, R. (1999). The Insider. Chicago Sun-Times, 5, 99.

Ruger Theodore, W. (2010). FDA v. Brown and Williamson: The Norm of Agency Continuity.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in cheap essay writing service if you need a similar paper you can place your order for legitimate essay writing service.