Boston Tv Station Agrees to Air Jewish Views on Terrorism and Air Piracy

In an attempt to be “responsive to an aggrieved segment of the community that has a right to have a voice,” WBZ-TV has agreed to schedule four minutes of interviews on culpability for terrorism, methods of combating air piracy, and the effect of terrorism on Israeli tourism. The television station reached the compromise with the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Boston, which had unsuccessfully challenged the station’s refusal to air a rebuttal to a one-minute, 48-second commentary by Erwin D. Canham, editor of the Christian Science Monitor. Canham, a regular commentator on the Group W (Westinghouse Broadcasting) service, had warned June 4against both Arab and Israeli “terror.” The JCC had protested that Canham equated the Tel Aviv massacre by Arab-inspired Japanese with Israel’s liberation of an Arab-hijacked jet.

WBZ-TV program manager Paul D. Coss called the scheduled interviews–with a JCC representative and a member of the Israel Tourist Board–“a meaningful solution to the problem” that “won’t violate the journalistic integrity of our newscast.” He said the JCC’s threat to protest to the Federal Communications Commission would have failed, and “our victory would leave a bad taste in an important community’s mouth.” (The JCC wanted to charge WBZ-TV with violation of the so-called fairness doctrine, which requires the airing of opposing opinion in “controversial issues of public importance.”) “I don’t care to alienate people who are important to us,” added Coss.

Hadassah reported today in New York that 23 Boy Scouts and eight Girl Scouts have arrived from Israel to serve as counselors and resources advisers at 15 camps throughout the United States. Hadassah officials said that the visitors are all 17-year-old high school students who speak fluent English. The project is a joint effort of the Israel Boy and Girl Scout Federation, the Boy Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of the USA and the Hadassah Zionist Youth Commission.