Jewish Groups Defend Federal Inquiry into Allegation of Anti-semitism by Radio Stations

Major Jewish organizations today vigcrously defended the right of the Federal Communications Commission to inquire into the allegations of anti-Semitism and news distortion in the operation of radio stations owned by G.A. Richards.

The F.C.C., on the basis of a complaint filed by the Radio News Club of Los Angeles, is investigating charges that over a period of years Richards issued instructions to news-staff members of stations KMPC in Los Angeles, WJR in Detroit, and WGAR in Cleveland to slant the news so as to reflect Richards’ personal prejudices. The action of the Jewish organizations was in response to a resolution adopted recently by the National Association of Broadcasters which condemned the F.C.C. inquiry into operations of radio stations as an invasion of Richards’ privacy and rights under the First Amendment.

In a joint letter to the National Association of Broadcasters signed by the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish War Veterans, and Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the organizations attacked the N.A.B. resolution as “betraying a basic misunderstanding of the necessary and natural functions which the F.C.C. must serve if it is responsibly to acquit itself of its obligations to the American people.” The statement was issued by the National Community Relations Advisory Council, which is the coordinating body for the six national groups.