Minutes" intentionally distorted the news in a 1994 segment on the
Ukraine.
A Federal Communications Commission ruling against CBS on the matter
could call into question the network's fitness to hold all or some of its
broadcast licenses, said attorneys for the agency and for Alexander
Serafyn, who led the court case against the "60 Minutes" report.
But CBS attorneys, speaking on condition of anonymity, disagreed. They
said only WWJ-TV in Detroit - the station involved in the present
challenge - could be affected.
On Tuesday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
concluded that the FCC didn't sufficiently explain why it decided not to
hold a hearing on the allegations involving the "60 Minutes" segment.
Given the court's ruling, the commission will re-examine the entire
record, including Serafyn's allegations that the segment was
intentionally distorted, an FCC attorney said.
Serafyn had asked the FCC to turn down CBS' license request for WGPR-TV
in Detroit - now WWJ-TV - arguing that the network was not fit to receive
the license because it had aired a distorted news program.
Serafyn, an American of Ukrainian ancestry who is retired and living in
Detroit, had submitted evidence to the FCC involving his allegation about
the broadcast, entitled, "The Ugly Face of Freedom." The FCC denied
Serafyn's petition for a hearing, saying it would not investigate an
allegation of news distortion without "substantial extrinsic evidence."
The court said the FCC misapplied its standard for holding a hearing
because it required Serafyn to demonstrate that CBS intended to distort
the news rather than merely requiring that he "raise a substantial and
material question of fact" - a less demanding test.
CBS attorneys asserted there was no evidence the network intentionally
distorted the segment. In addition, they said the FCC has never revoked
a broadcast license on such grounds.
The broadcast angered some viewers who believed that parts had been
designed to give the impression that all Ukrainians harbor a strongly
negative attitude toward Jews, the court said.
"This is basically an effort on the part of the Ukrainian community,"
said Arthur Belendiuk, Serafyn's attorney. "The case is not so much
about Mr. Serafyn as it is about a community that felt horribly maligned
by what was said."
After the FCC revisits the case, the commission has several options: It
could issue a new order that basically upholds its 1995 order but
provides more details on how the decision was reached; it could order a
hearing on the matter; or it could ask interested parties to comment and
then it could issue a new order, the FCC attorney said.
Whatever the commission ultimately decides is likely to be appealed by
the losing party, Belendiuk and other attorneys said.
HOME DISINFORMATION 60 MINUTES 1156 hits since 12May98
Rabbi David H. Lincoln Ukrainian Weekly 30October94 A New York rabbi's response
Rabbi David H. Lincoln of the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York was among the first to object to the 60 Minutes
broadcast, The Ugly Face of Freedom of 23Oct94. Rabbi Lincoln has had a longstanding interest in Ukraine, inherited
from his father, as is explained in the discussion of The Ukrainian Question in 1935.
Everything below is from the Ukrainian Weekly.
A New York rabbi's response
Following is the text of a letter sent on October 25 to the CBS program "60 Minutes" by Rabbi David H. Lincoln of
the Park Avenue Synagogue. The letter is reprinted here with the permission of Rabbi Lincoln, who last year traveled
to western Ukraine.
Park Avenue Synagogue
50 East 87 Street
New York, N.Y. 10125
Mr. Jeffrey Fager, Producer
CBS "60 Minutes"
524 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019
Dear Sir:
I feel that your program on Lviv and Ukrainians was most unfair.
To show boy scouts and say they are Nazis marching, to translate "Zhyd" as kike (in western Ukraine Zhyd is the
word for Jew), to infer that the word for nation - "natsiya" - might mean Nazi etc., etc. - is most upsetting to many
of us who know today's Ukraine.
It really is time for us to enjoy the resurgence of Jewish life in Ukraine after the horrors of the German
occupation and communism, and to appreciate the heroic efforts of the Ukrainian people and government to assist the
Jewish community in all their endeavors.
The history of Jewish-Ukrainian relations often tragic is a complicated one, but you would have done well to have
informed the public of the better aspects of those contacts. For instance, Ukraine was the sole independent nation
that had complete Jewish national autonomy (1917) and had Yiddish-speaking ministers in the government representing
the rights of minorities.
Today, when Russian Jews send their children to Ukraine for safe keeping in times of danger, no good can come
from distortions such as those portrayed in your program.
Yours faithfully,
Rabbi David H. Lincoln
HOME DISINFORMATION POLAND 8359 hits since 04-Feb-1998
Jerzy Kosinski: Grand Calumniator of Poland
Jerzy Kosinski
who the world understood to have been To Hell and Back
