The public hearing by the National News Council scheduled for today, on the issue of Mike Wallace’s “60 Minutes program dealing with Syrian Jewry and first aired on CBS Feb, 16, was “deferred” until a new program on Syrian Jewry, now being prepared by “60 Minutes.” is shown next month. This was announced by the American Jewish Congress and the National News Council.
The first airing of the program, and the corrected edition aired June 8, resulted in vast criticism by the AJ Congress, the Committee for the Rescue of Syrian Jewry and other Jewish organizations. They charged that the “60 Minutes” program had been slanted in favor of the official government view of Syria and failed to show the real plight of Syrian Jewry. The Council decided to hold a public hearing to resolve the matter after “lengthy correspondence involving both the AJ Congress and CBS News,” the Council explained in a statement.
Philip Baum, associate director of the AJ Congress, stated “Representatives of the AJ Congress have met with CBS News and have been informed that ’60 Minutes’ is preparing, for broadcast next month, a program that will present additional information on the plight of Syrian Jews. We are therefore requesting the National News Council to defer action on our complaint, without prejudice, until we have seen the new broadcast.”
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