The Supreme Court yesterday declined to review a lower court’s decision upholding the license renewal of a suburban Los Angeles radio station accused of broadcasting anti-Semitic material. The renewal had been opposed by the southwestern regional office of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League which charged that the taped broadcasts of an ultra-conservative commentator, Richard Cotten, contained “bigoted appeals to anti-Semitic prejudice.”
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) renewed the license of station KTYM on the grounds that broadcasters had the right to air controversial material provided they adhered to the “fairness doctrine” providing equal time for opposing views. The lower court upheld the FCC. It was noted that the station had offered reply time to the ADL but the latter declined.
In its appeal to the FCC to deprive the station of its license, the ADL cited broadcasts in which Mr. Cotten equated Communism with Socialism and Socialism with Judaism. He also accused Arnold Forster, general counsel of the ADL, of being a Communist spy. The ADL asserted that the commentator’s statements were defamatory and not in the public interest.
The Supreme Court’s refusal to review the KTYM case may have a bearing on a similar case involving the New York radio station, WBAI-FM. A petition to deny it license renewal was filed by the ADL over a January broadcast on which a Negro teacher read an anti-Semitic poem. The case is pending before the FCC.
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