A Montreal radio announcer fired by station CKGM for allegedly insulting statements directed at Jews in connection with a program dealing with the execution of Adolf Eichmann said today he was filing a suit for $125,000 for “unjustified dismissal and character defamation.”
The announcement was made on behalf of Herbert Manning by his attorney who said that the announcer’s condemnation of capital punishment was in the public interest. The attorney said that the dismissed announcer had “previously condemned the persecution of the Jews in Soviet Russia and the rise of Nazism in Canada.”
It was also announced that the dismissal would be investigated by the board of governors of Radio Broadcasting in Ottawa. Manning was ousted by Geoff Stirling, president of the radio station, for alleged insults to Jewish participants on his “Open Mind” program when a heated discussion developed on the Nazi’s execution.
In announcing the ouster, the president of the radio station asked: “How would any Canadian react to the extermination of a third of the Canadian population, to the massacre of all men, women and children of Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Edmonton?”
Mr. Stirling also sent a letter of apology to the Canadian Jewish Congress and B’nai B’rith in which he said that he “deeply” regretted the fact that on the nights of May 21 and June 1, Manning “allowed personal feelings on capital punishment to mar the objectivity of the discussion.”
He added that he felt “an apology is owed to the entire Montreal Jewish community who have contributed so much to this city as well as to any Jewish listeners who phoned the program and were not given a complete opportunity of self-expression.” He added that an apology also was due to the Jewish participants on the program, Leon Crestohl and Stanley Shenkman.”
In reaffirming the ouster, the station president cited a broadcast conversation with a woman caller on the telephone:
Woman: “After all, the Nazis murdered 5,000,000 Jews.”
Manning: “Were you there, lady?”
Woman: “No, but my brother who was in the war was.”
Manning: “Were you there?”
Woman: “No, but–“
Manning: “Were you there? Madam, you are lying.”
In his letter to the Jewish groups, Mr. Stirling said that station officials had evaluated six hours of tapes on the two programs “and we have asked for the resignation of Herbert Manning not only on the Open Mind show but on all other programs that he is connected within CKGM.”
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