“In this community, there is a widespread feeling that there are two systems of justice.”

In December of 1979, Miami police officers beat an African American man named Arthur McDuffie into a fatal coma following a high-speed motorcycle chase. Officers tried to cover up the cause of McDuffie’s injuries, falsely attributing them to a vehicular accident. Despite eye-witness accounts of the assault, an all-white Tampa jury, in May of 1980, acquitted the officers of criminal charges including manslaughter.

The verdict led to three days of rioting in Liberty City, Overtown, and nearby areas. The violence included arson, looting, and attacks on white motorists. Eighteen people were killed, hundreds were injured, and close to $100 million in damage was done. The episode highlighted deep racial tensions over policing in Miami.

A year after the riots, I did a report on the still-broken community for the CBS Evening News.

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“They’ve been surprised by the attention, surprised by the affection, surprised by all the letters of love and support they have received.”

The Iran hostage crisis ended on January 20, 1981. 52 American hostages were freed after 444 days in captivity, and were flown home to the United States to return to their former lives. As one would expect, they took different paths and made different life adjustments with their newfound freedom.

In April of that year, I caught up with some of the former hostages for the CBS Evening News.

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“He’s an air traffic controller on sick leave — traumatic sick leave.”

One of the more memorable decisions of Ronald Reagan’s presidency was his firing of thousands of striking air traffic controllers in August of 1981.

A few months before that happened, as union discussions with the FAA were still ongoing, I covered the stresses faced by air traffic controllers — and one individual in particular — for the CBS Evening News. Back then, as you can probably gather from the report, the job was much more dependent on human interaction.

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“While you’re sleepin’ I’m creepin’.”

Auto theft was a huge problem in this country in the early 1980s, fueled by auto parts being in short supply. Police were in over their heads on the issue.

I covered the story for the CBS Evening News in late 1981, including one state that was starting to get very serious about the problem.

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“B-I-N-G-O spells money — big money.”

In the late 1970s, the Seminole Native American Tribe opened a high-stakes bingo hall on its reservation in Broward County, Florida. The county’s sheriff, Robert Butterworth (no relation to the syrup icon), threatened to enforce Florida’s bingo statue on the reservation, which limited the cash prizes given out to players (a rule that applied to competing bingo ventures throughout the state, which provided the Seminole Tribe with a significant competitive advantage).

I covered the story for the CBS Evening News in August of 1981.

Sheriff Butterworth, by the way, would go on to lose multiple legal battles in his quest to regulate Seminole Bingo, including with the Supreme Court.

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“If they were doing that outside the arena, they would be arrested.”

In late 1981, for the CBS Evening News, I did a story on a measurable uptick in professional-sports violence in the United States, and how it mirrored other aspects of American society.

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“It’s being called traffic anarchy, and nowhere is it more blatant than in New York City…”

This isn’t what you’d call a groundbreaking story, but as with many issues of public safety, it was a legitimate one.

In late 1981, for the CBS Evening News, I covered the reckless abandon of traffic laws in big cities, including the Big Apple.

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“For farmers it is a constant battle, keeping birds away from their rice seed.”

In 1981, approximately 100 waterfowl — mostly ducks and geese — were found dead or dying in ua rice field near Sweet Lake in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. They’d been poisoned by the illegal use of a pesticide called Azodrin.

I covered the story for the CBS Evening News, including worries over how humans might be affected by the poison.

Let me know what you think about my farmer attire for the piece. 😉

On a side note, all uses of Azodrin were discontinued in the United States by the late 1980s.

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“I believe that you should do everything possible for someone you love — not because they can hear you or see you, but because you love them.”

In April 1975, shortly after she turned 21, Karen Ann Quinlan fell into a coma she would never wake up from. Doctors initially refused her parents’ request to have her disconnected from her ventilator, leading to a lawsuit by her parents, and high-profile legal, moral, and cultural debates over the “right to die” controversy in the United States.

There was even a TV-movie on the family’s story, starring Brian Keith.

The Supreme Court eventually ruled that Quinlan’s ventilator could be removed. But to the surprise of everyone, Quinlan continued to breathe on her own. She remained, however, in a persistent vegetative state — kept alive by a feeding tube.

I covered the ongoing story for the CBS Evening News in 1981, which included an interview with her family, and a summary of ongoing court challenges.

Quinlan would pass away a little over four years later, from complications from pneumonia.

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Editor’s note: The volume on today’s clip is a little low, so you might need raise it on your device.

“What’s the reality, and what’s the myth?”

In my 2001 book, Bias, some of you may remember that I wrote about how many in the media heavily sensationalized and misrepresented the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. The inclination of a number of journalists was to exaggerate the threat to heterosexuals and non-drug users, in order to draw more mainstream attention, sympathy, and funding to the crisis.

It wasn’t the first time that I explored this topic. I covered it, years earlier, in this 1992 segment of 48 Hours.

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“It can be easily mocked, by the way. All of it can be easily made fun of, but we’re not afraid of that.”

In 1992 for 48 Hours, I covered the New Men’s Movement — specifically a support group in Chicago where men voiced their life-frustrations, including with women, the modern feminist movement, and unfair male stereotypes.

As you’ll probably notice, some of the arguments made in this piece are still being made today.

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“We don’t want to waste genius sperm on morons.”

In 1991 for 48 Hours, I reported on a California sperm bank — a very exclusive one —that specialized in producing exceptionally smart kids.

The company even had “sperm recruiters” who sought out and essentially cold-called notably smart donors.

One of the “genius kids” I covered in the story, Doron Blake, was coincidentally written about in a New York Post story on the bank just a couple months ago. Now a father of two, he has some interesting (and perhaps surprising) views on how he was conceived.

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“The old way in Japan is crumbling, as old ways always do.”

In early 1989, I traveled with the 48 Hours crew to Japan, where I worked a couple different stories on the country’s tighter embrace of Western capitalism and American culture.

Some of the people I met were excelling in life. Others struggled with workloads and the cost of living.

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“What we’re seeing is the lunatic-fringe joining the mainstream — becoming the mainstream.”

In part three of my 48 Hours report from the NATPE convention in 1989, I covered the most outrageous syndicated television shows of the era, from American Gladiators, to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to the attempted revival of Jackpot.

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“They are the kings of this business.”

In part two of my 48 Hours report from the NATPE convention in 1989, I covered Roger and Michael King, who were behind some of television’s top syndicated shows at the time: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, and Oprah.

I interviewed Vanna White, among others.

(Look for part three next week).

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“If they gave out Nobel Prizes for big mouths, Morton Downey would be doing his show from Stockholm.”

In 1989 for CBS News’s 48 Hours, I traveled to the NATPE convention in Houston, Texas, where popular syndicated TV shows were marketed to local stations.

In my first of three segments at the convention, I talked to two popular daytime Trash TV stars of the era: Morton Downey Jr. and Geraldo Rivera — both of whom insisted they were giving Americans what they really wanted.

(Look for part two next week).

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“You’re not going to put this on T.V., are you?”

In September of 1988, CBS News’ 48 Hours did an episode on the smoking war — the deepening conflict between smokers and non-smokers (and the role government should or shouldn’t play).

I traveled to San Leandro, California, where the battle was raging, to cover both sides of the argument.

(You all might get a kick out of the last scene).

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“The eye of the storm is nearing Texas.”

In September of 1988, our regularly scheduled episode of 48 Hours had to be put on hold to cover a deadly Category 5 hurricane that was barreling its way toward the United States. Hurricane Gilbert caused havoc in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico for almost a week and a half, ultimately killing 318 people and causing almost $3 billion in damages along its path.

I uncharacteristically played the role of weatherman from the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Florida, doing my best to keep CBS’s audience up-to-date on the latest developments.

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“Everyone seems convinced that his side is right and other side is wrong.”

In early 1988, I traveled to Israel for a 48 Hours piece on the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in the occupied territories (the West Bank and the Gaza strip).

The episode itself is hard to track down, but Dan Rather had me on the CBS Evening News to promote the episode.

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“I may have just doomed a hundred people to their death.”

In January of 1988, I and the rest of the 48 Hours crew spent a couple days at Stapleton International Airport in Denver (which no longer exists). We detailed the hazards and complications of winter air-travel at the base of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains (which could get pretty chaotic).

In one of the two segments I worked on (both are included in today’s clip), I met an entertaining fellow known as the Iron Messiah.

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