CNN - “CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT”

TUESDAY JANUARY 14TH 2003 – 8.00pm EST

CONNIE CHUNG: Good evening. I'm Connie Chung.

Tonight: Pete Townshend - once the voice of his generation - is he now guilty of exploiting the youngest generation?

Tonight: 57-year-old Pete Townshend, co-founder of The Who rock group, is back at his London home, but still under suspicion of viewing pornographic pictures of children online. Scotland Yard says Townshend has agreed to report back to police by the end of the month. Authorities held him for five hours last night and questioned him for more than an hour. Townshend has not been charged.

He says he did view child pornography online, but that he's not a pedophile and he considered it to be research for his autobiography. He claims he was abused as a child. Before police took Townshend away - along with his computers and floppy discs - his lawyer said Townshend is cooperating with police.

(VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN COHEN (ATTORNEY FOR PETE TOWNSHEND): We are meeting the police at the house here at 3:00, by appointment, by arrangement with the police.

CHUNG: His arrest stemmed from a child pornography investigation here in the United States. Investigators discovered a list of credit cards used to view child porn online and shared the list with international law enforcement. Scotland Yard has been working off that list, leading not just to Townshend, but to hundreds of other ‘Brits, including even police officers and magistrates.

JOHN CARR (INTERNET CONSULTANT): One thousand, five hundred people have been arrested so far under Operation Ore; 95 percent of them have got no criminal record, no form of any kind with the police or other authority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHUNG: Now, Pete Townshend has been an important part of history of rock pop culture. He game famous for his windmill guitar playing. But as the band's writer, he was also seen as one of wrong rock's angry young men, writing such classics the rock opera "Tommy," "My Generation" and "Baba O'Riley," better known as "Teenage Wasteland." You'll meet a longtime friend of Townshend's in just a moment to talk about the accusations against him.

But first, CNN's Anne McDermott, who has more on exactly who Pete Townshend is.

(VIDEOTAPE)

ANNE MCDERMOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In recent years, Pete Townshend's been a solo act mostly, playing new works and classics by The Who. But, occasionally, the 57-year-old would get together with his old band mates, for induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, for example.

John Entwistle, who died last year. Drummer Keith Moon died of an overdose in 1978, but survivors Townshend and Roger Daltrey continue to tour from time to time.

What really made The Who, made music history, was their rock opera "Tommy." That's Daltrey in the 1975 movie featuring Townshend's songs about a deaf, dumb and blind kid who was also abused as a child, songs Townshend wrote in the late '60s, including his signature, "Pinball Wizard."

Townshend has recently suggested he might have been abused as a child, after acknowledging he was the target of a police investigation into Internet child pornography. He reportedly said he was doing research.

At Monday night's American Music Awards, Elton John was asked to comment on his old friend's arrest.

ELTON JOHN (MUSICIAN): I'm a friend of Pete's. I love Pete. And my thoughts are with him.

MCDERMOTT: In recent years, Townshend has demonstrated his interest in computers, as he touted an interactive version of "Tommy" in this promotional video and, at the same time, commented on the young rocker he used to be.

TOWNSHEND: I was handsome, witty, and exceptionally debonair - a young gentleman, as I still am today!

MCDERMOTT: Maybe. But until now, anyway, what he was really best known for being was a rock legend.

Anne McDermott, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHUNG: The Who's lead singer, Roger Daltrey, said about his band mate -- quote -- "My gut instinct is that he is not a pedophile and I know him better than most."

Martin Lewis also knows Townshend better than most. Lewis is a writer/producer who's been friends with Townshend since the early '70s. And David Sinclair has been covering this story for "The London Times."

Thank you both for being with us.

Martin, why are you so sure that your friend is innocent?

MARTIN LEWIS (FRIEND OF TOWNSHEND): Pete Townshend is a man of exemplary character. He's been in the public spotlight for 38 years. It's impossible to be in the spotlight for even 38 MINUTES in the music industry and have any kind of behavior like this without there being innuendo… without people discussing it.

The fact is there have been no whispers… never been a whisper of anything like this about Pete Townshend ever before. He's a very straightforward, honest man. He wears his heart on his sleeve. He also wears his demons on his sleeve. When he's had problems with drink or drugs, he's been up-front about it. It's been in his music. He's spoken out in his interviews.

And the answers that he gave on Saturday when he made his statement are absolutely true. He said he had been researching for an autobiography. People have known for years he's been working on this autobiography.

CHUNG: But it seems like such a strange way to research. Good heavens, isn't there another way to do it?

LEWIS: He's simply looking into an aspect of sexual abuse that he believes he experienced as a child.

But another thing that he also referred to and that is absolutely true, for the last two years, he's been running a campaign on his website against child pornography, warning people about it. Jerry Hall came out just yesterday to say that he had talked extensively about it and telling her how she could help her children not be exposed to it.

So, when he came out and mentioned that he'd been looking into it as part of that, that's absolutely the case. It's on the record. But a man of exemplary character, over 38 years in the public limelight, you cannot have these kind of indiscretions and them be unnoticed or uncommented on. Impossible.

CHUNG: All right.

David Sinclair, he did say that he was doing research for his autobiography. Doesn't it sound like the Winona Ryder defense which she had at one point claimed, that she was doing research for a movie?

DAVID SINCLAIR (MUSIC CRITIC - LONDON TIMES) : Well, yes. That's right. It does bear certain passing similarities. And I think that defense was laughed out of court, really, wasn't it?

And you have to say that, looked at in that light, Pete Townshend does seem to be putting forward a fairly flimsy defense. Having said that, I think he is one of the good guys. As your other correspondent has said, he's always been one of the more conscientious and more socially responsible pop stars that we've had. But it does look as he's got himself in a bit of a mess here.

CHUNG: Martin Lewis made the point that no one has ever heard any rumors or anything like that. In your coverage of the music industry, had you ever heard any rumors about Townshend of the like?

SINCLAIR: No, I haven't. And I think it's fairly certain that he hasn't ever been implicated in any sort of sense of child molesting or anything of that nature.

He's obviously come forward very quickly here and said that, yes, he has admitted that he accessed this Web site. Even before the police called on him, he came forward and volunteered that information. Having said that, he has spent a lot of his artistic career probing some of the darker areas of the human psyche. And "Tommy," obviously, was a whole work devoted to that subject of an abused child who eventually became a messiah figure.

It was a theme which surfaced again on his solo album "Psychoderelict" some time after that. So, he's obviously had a lot of trouble in his life.

CHUNG: Yes, obviously.

Martin Lewis, have you spoken to him?

LEWIS: No. I've sent him a message of support, like so many of his friends. In fact, one of the things that has been most disturbing is - and I can say this very succinctly - is that, in this “gotcha” tabloid mentality that we have as a society these days, facts get thrown around and everyone is very excited it's a celebrity.

LEWIS: The Associated Press has apologized because they said that Townshend had “downloaded” images. They've corrected themselves. He had never claimed that. Fox News yesterday claimed that Townshend had been “creating” or “producing” images. Wrong. And even CNN earlier today had an analysis of a song from the "Tommy" rock opera and they were doing a scholarly analysis of it - except for one problem. It was a song NOT written by Pete Townshend - but written by his band mate John Entwistle.

In this frenzied atmosphere, when a man of impeccable reputation has his integrity on the line, I think it behooves the entire media to go cautiously and have some sense of respect and some sense of probity about doing this, not just headlong jumping into it for the “gotcha” mentality.

CHUNG: Just one question and then I'll go back to David Sinclair.

Did you hear back from Pete Townshend after you sent him a message?

LEWIS: I've heard back from friends of Pete. Pete knows that he's got the support of friends all around him who've known him for so many years, including the people that he's helped out, including all the charities, children's charities that he's been a tireless worker and pioneer for. That's one of the things that Pete Townshend is known for - throughout the entertainment world.

CHUNG: David Sinclair, do you think the tabloids are going crazy over this?

SINCLAIR: Well, to be honest, I think, actually, the tabloids have been, by their standards, pretty restrained. And the British tabloids, once they get their claws into someone like this, it can be a pretty brutal affair.

And in Townshend's case, they've given a good deal of spin to his side of the story. They've printed his statements in full. I think there's been a fair amount of sympathy. And, inevitably, though, you have got to feel that there is going to be a bit of a cloud hanging over him with regards to these kind of allegations. It's a very sensitive subject at the moment here, as indeed everywhere.

And I think that Townshend has got himself into a bit of a muddle. I'm entirely in agreement. I think that he's one of the good guys of pop. I don't think that he's a villain. But I think he's taken a wrong turning.

CHUNG: All right, David Sinclair, thank you so much for being with us.

And no one could have a better friend than you, Martin Lewis. Thank you so much for being with us.