Summary The Insider is a movie based on true story. It was directed by Michael Mann and the script was adapted by Eric Roth and Mann from Marie Brenner's Vanity Fair article "The Man Who Knew Too Much". It is about Jeffrey Wigand, a whistleblower of a tobacco industry, his interview with a TV programme, 60 Minutes. The article also covered the personal struggles of him and CBS 60 Minutes producer, Lowell Bergman as they defend his testimony because CBS and Wigand's former employer, Brown & Williamson are using all the efforts to discredit and suppress the interview. Jeffery Wigand is a top scientist in Brown & Williamson and he possesses ugly truth of tobacco industry that would certainly devastated the industry if the truth was to get out …show more content…
They force him to sign an agreement by threatening him and his family. Due to much anger towards Brown & Williamson and his concern for public welfare, he decided to expose tobacco industry's manipulation of nicotine to the court and television interview. As a result, Wigand's family leaves him and his reputation is hurt by false claims released by his former employer. He will also face possible lawsuits and jail time in releasing this information, but he does it anyway. Yet, before the his interview section can air on 60 Minutes, CBS suddenly calls off the airing due to the fact that the exposure of the ugly truth could face legal action from B&W which will in turn affect the impending sale of CBS to Westinghouse. Luckily, Bergman does not give up. He goes all the ways to get the truth out, fighting for journalism freedom as well as Wigand's and public welfare. Bergman contacts his editor friend at The New York Times, and successfully disclosing the full story and events at …show more content…
In the firm, it is stated that the seven largest tobacco companies spend $600 million outside legal council and they have never lose a lawsuit even though hundreds of thousands of people die from illnesses related to cigarette. They are accused of concealing the addictive properties of nicotine and discovering ways to exploit it to their benefits. For instance, in Wigand's interview for 60 Minutes, he states that tobacco companies see cigarettes as a delivery device for nicotine. He later adds that the companies exploit the addictive properties of nicotine by controlling and altering them, a practice known as "impact boosting," and adding chemicals into the cigarette so that the nicotine can be absorbed into the person's blood more quickly. Wigand thereby accuses Brown and Williamson CEO, Thomas Sandeford perjured himself in a declaration to the United States Congress. In that declaration, the "seven dwarves", the name given to the CEOs of the seven biggest tobacco companies, guaranteed that "cigarettes and nicotine do not meet classic definitions of addiction." This indicated how deceitful tobacco companies can