The State Supreme Court has sustained the dismissal by a lower court of a damage suit by a Milwaukee disc jockey against the regional office of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith which the radio performer blamed for loss of his job according to a report in the latest issue of The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle.
Allan E. Augustine was fired by Ralph Barnes, general manager of station WOKY, in 1974 following a talk show which featured members of the National Socialist White People’s Party, a local Nazi group. Augustine sued the ADL for $150,000. Barnes also was named in the lawsuit, the Chronicle reported.
The court record indicated that, during the radio show, the Nazis used “various epithets” about Jews and Blacks and that Augustine failed to push the button which would have deleted such material. Augustine also failed to use a standard disclaimer tape to the effect that the views expressed were those of the guests and not of the station.
In upholding the ruling of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court which rejected Augustine’s claims of damage, the Supreme Court held that “the right of free speech as guaranteed by the Constitution is a privilege which has been asserted (as such) and correctly so by the ADL.”
Saul Sorrin. Wisconsin regional ADL director, said the Supreme Court decision had “affirmed the right of organizations and individuals to protest material put on the air which they believe to be contrary to the interests of the community.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
