WATCHSCHEDULETOPICSABOUT FRONTLINESHOPTEACHER CENTER
FRONTLINE reports on the history, strategy and high stakes that brought Big Tobacco to the bargaining table

FRONTLINE tells the inside story of how two small-town Mississippi lawyers declared war on Big Tobacco and skillfully pursued a daring new litigation strategy that ultimately brought the industry to the negotiating table. For forty years tobacco companies had won every lawsuit brought against them and never paid out a dime. In 1997 that all changed. The industry agreed to a historic deal to pay $368 billion in health-related damages, tear down billboards and retire Joe Camel.
click here to read more

Support thought-provoking independent journalism like FRONTLINE by making a pledge to your local PBS station today. Support thought-provoking independent journalism like FRONTLINE by making a pledge to your local PBS station today.

discussion .  quiz .  about the criminal probe .  will there be a deal? .  a look at the depositions .  big tobacco - what's at stake? .  interviews

timelines .  faqs .  links & readings .  synopsis .  tapes & transcripts .  press reaction

frontline online .  wgbh .  pbs online

web site copyright WGBH educational foundation

Inside the Tobacco Deal

FRONTLINE goes inside the tobacco deal,telling the intriguing tale of how a group of small-town lawyers from the nation's poorest state brought Big Tobacco to the bargaining table. FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman follows the trail of confidential Brown & Williamson documents that were leaked, examines the role of former presidential advisor Dick Morris in shaping Clinton's stance on tobacco,and reveals new information about the government's criminal case against the tobacco industry.

published may 1998

SUPPORT PROVIDED BY