Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Interview with Michael Weisskopf

Aired December 23, 2002 - 13:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Watching the whistle-blowers. Time for "TIME"'s "Person of the Year" -- or, rather, "Persons of the Year." For 2002, three women graced the cover. Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom, Coleen Rowley with the FBI, and Enron's Sherron Watkins. They were all involved in the biggest scandals of the year, but what was it that earned these women such an honor?
Well, "TIME" magazine's Michael Weisskopf joins us live from Washington to talk about just that -- hi, Michael.

MICHAEL WEISSKOPF: Hi, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Take me inside the boardroom where everybody was talking and tossing out names. Tell me how this all came to be.

WEISSKOPF: Well, we liked the partnership of Washington a great deal. That is the Bush/Cheney partnership, how it is larger than the sum of its parts, and it is -- and its impact on world events, but in the end, we felt that this was a year in which democratic institutions were tested more than they have been in a long time.

These three women helped uphold the standards, both in corporate America and in our law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Both places suffered badly and slipped badly in the last year. It took these very strong and brave women to make the case to do the right thing. They were -- in each case, they were ignored and belittled. Finally, their stories got out, and the impact was extraordinary.

PHILLIPS: And what's interesting, these are women -- I mean, their memos leaked. It's not like they were causing a ruckus, and calling people up and saying, Hey, hey, listen to me, give me attention, I have got this big piece of scoop. This was sort of a humble situation for all three women.

WEISSKOPF: None of these women were trained for the spotlight, and they resisted even our entreaties to enter a conference room together to be interviewed and photographed, took a long time. Two of the three of them are sole bread winners. They are used to kind of green eyeshades work, not the glee (ph) lights of television.

So, yes, you're right. And they did it, really, at great jeopardy to themselves.

PHILLIPS: And they went up against male-dominated organizations, didn't they? WEISSKOPF: Yes, and that's what is very interesting about this. Despite the gains by women in the workplace, corporate America and institutions like the FBI are pretty testosterone-loaded, and these are women who, by nature, are outsiders. They're not part of the club. So it gave them a sharper eye on the bottom line, and how things were working.

They didn't feel, probably, as much part of the vested interest. So it gives them an edge, an important role for women in the workplace.

PHILLIPS: One of my producers, Jill and I, we popped on the Web site and looked back. It's been 17 years since a woman was honored like this. Corazon... What took so long?

WEISSKOPF: Corazon Aquino (ph).

PHILLIPS: Yes. Exactly. What took so long?

WEISSKOPF: Well, you make the judgment every year. Maybe it goes back to the previous answer I gave, and that is that despite the place of women in the work environment, still at the very top it's a glass ceiling. You don't get people with a chance to make a contribution, as these women did.

PHILLIPS: And I'm just curious. What came to that decision with Aquino?

WEISSKOPF: I can't remember. I -- it was before my time, believe it or not.

PHILLIPS: That's all right. OK. We can always go back. We know how she really made such a huge impact on politics there in the Philippines. But let's talk about the whistleblowers again. I mean, it is not so much -- I guess -- that they were whistleblowers, but it is more kind of the impact that they made overall. I mean, talk about a lead story for all of us for months.

WEISSKOPF: Yes. Certainly Sherron Watkins of Enron blew that story a mile high and focused attention on Enron, not only in the business community, but the larger investment public, similarly with Cynthia Cooper at WorldCom. Coleen Rowley was in quite a different world, but the prelude to 9/11 is a great mystery to a lot of us, and how it happened. And, in her small little part of the universe, she solved that puzzle for us, she was an important piece of that puzzle.

It was simply ineptitude, it was cowardice at the FBI, a failure to take a chance, and she documented all that in a very bold 13-page memo to the FBI director which she hand-delivered, took a plane from Minneapolis to Washington, hand-delivered it, went back to a plane, and went home to make sure it got there. And in it, she took on not only her superior, but all the way up the chain, right to the director.

PHILLIPS: I think, never become silent about the things that matter. MLK taught us all that, and I think these women represent the same mantra. Michael Weisskopf, thank you so much.

WEISSKOPF: Thanks, Kyra.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 23, 2002 - 13:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Watching the whistle-blowers. Time for "TIME"'s "Person of the Year" -- or, rather, "Persons of the Year." For 2002, three women graced the cover. Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom, Coleen Rowley with the FBI, and Enron's Sherron Watkins. They were all involved in the biggest scandals of the year, but what was it that earned these women such an honor?
Well, "TIME" magazine's Michael Weisskopf joins us live from Washington to talk about just that -- hi, Michael.

MICHAEL WEISSKOPF: Hi, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Take me inside the boardroom where everybody was talking and tossing out names. Tell me how this all came to be.

WEISSKOPF: Well, we liked the partnership of Washington a great deal. That is the Bush/Cheney partnership, how it is larger than the sum of its parts, and it is -- and its impact on world events, but in the end, we felt that this was a year in which democratic institutions were tested more than they have been in a long time.

These three women helped uphold the standards, both in corporate America and in our law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Both places suffered badly and slipped badly in the last year. It took these very strong and brave women to make the case to do the right thing. They were -- in each case, they were ignored and belittled. Finally, their stories got out, and the impact was extraordinary.

PHILLIPS: And what's interesting, these are women -- I mean, their memos leaked. It's not like they were causing a ruckus, and calling people up and saying, Hey, hey, listen to me, give me attention, I have got this big piece of scoop. This was sort of a humble situation for all three women.

WEISSKOPF: None of these women were trained for the spotlight, and they resisted even our entreaties to enter a conference room together to be interviewed and photographed, took a long time. Two of the three of them are sole bread winners. They are used to kind of green eyeshades work, not the glee (ph) lights of television.

So, yes, you're right. And they did it, really, at great jeopardy to themselves.

PHILLIPS: And they went up against male-dominated organizations, didn't they? WEISSKOPF: Yes, and that's what is very interesting about this. Despite the gains by women in the workplace, corporate America and institutions like the FBI are pretty testosterone-loaded, and these are women who, by nature, are outsiders. They're not part of the club. So it gave them a sharper eye on the bottom line, and how things were working.

They didn't feel, probably, as much part of the vested interest. So it gives them an edge, an important role for women in the workplace.

PHILLIPS: One of my producers, Jill and I, we popped on the Web site and looked back. It's been 17 years since a woman was honored like this. Corazon... What took so long?

WEISSKOPF: Corazon Aquino (ph).

PHILLIPS: Yes. Exactly. What took so long?

WEISSKOPF: Well, you make the judgment every year. Maybe it goes back to the previous answer I gave, and that is that despite the place of women in the work environment, still at the very top it's a glass ceiling. You don't get people with a chance to make a contribution, as these women did.

PHILLIPS: And I'm just curious. What came to that decision with Aquino?

WEISSKOPF: I can't remember. I -- it was before my time, believe it or not.

PHILLIPS: That's all right. OK. We can always go back. We know how she really made such a huge impact on politics there in the Philippines. But let's talk about the whistleblowers again. I mean, it is not so much -- I guess -- that they were whistleblowers, but it is more kind of the impact that they made overall. I mean, talk about a lead story for all of us for months.

WEISSKOPF: Yes. Certainly Sherron Watkins of Enron blew that story a mile high and focused attention on Enron, not only in the business community, but the larger investment public, similarly with Cynthia Cooper at WorldCom. Coleen Rowley was in quite a different world, but the prelude to 9/11 is a great mystery to a lot of us, and how it happened. And, in her small little part of the universe, she solved that puzzle for us, she was an important piece of that puzzle.

It was simply ineptitude, it was cowardice at the FBI, a failure to take a chance, and she documented all that in a very bold 13-page memo to the FBI director which she hand-delivered, took a plane from Minneapolis to Washington, hand-delivered it, went back to a plane, and went home to make sure it got there. And in it, she took on not only her superior, but all the way up the chain, right to the director.

PHILLIPS: I think, never become silent about the things that matter. MLK taught us all that, and I think these women represent the same mantra. Michael Weisskopf, thank you so much.

WEISSKOPF: Thanks, Kyra.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com