UHDC officers cite positive reaction to advertisement countering CBS (04/30/95)

UHDC officers cite positive reaction to advertisement countering CBS

by Khristina Lew

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - Ukrainian Heritage Defense Committee officers assert that the most positive response to an advertisement countering "60 Minutes' " allegations of anti-Semitism in western Ukraine placed in key Northeast newspapers has been from CBS itself.

The advertisement, generated by the UHDC and funded by donations from the Ukrainian American community, appeared in the April 3 editions of The New York Times and The Washington Post, and the April 10 edition of The Washington Post's national weekly.

On April 7, four days after the advertisement appeared, "60 Minutes" correspondent Morley Safer sent a letter to David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, in which he wrote: "I agree with you that a follow-up story on the efforts being made by the government of Ukraine to combat anti-semitism [sic] and ensure the security of all its citizens would be a worthwhile project for a future '60 Minutes' report."

Mr. Safer said in his letter that he would contact Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich, who was featured prominently in the October 23, 1994, "60 Minutes" segment, about a "possible meeting this autumn."

"Rabbi Bleich predicted this," said Nestor Olesnycky, UHDC chairman. "He said CBS would do a positive report 18 months down the line."

According to Leonard Mazur, UHDC vice-chairman, committee members were told that Mr. Safer's letter to the AJC executive director "was supposedly a result of the ad."

"Morley Safer's letter is perhaps the strongest response from CBS on this issue to date," he said.

Reader's respond

The UHDC has received 40-50 letters responding to the advertisement, and numerous phone calls. Many respondents have requested additional information, but the advertisement has failed to generate significant donations.

Although the UHDC plans to run the advertisement in the journal Commentary and in Jewish American publications, "the future direction of the campaign will largely be dictated by money raised," said Mr. Mazur.

"We must keep this issue visible," he explained. "The advertisement accomplishes two goals: it fulfills the objective of countering CBS allegations and portrays a positive image of Ukraine."

Monies raised by the UHDC will fund advertising in publications that are read by "those people who are in influential positions on Ukraine," but the UHDC has prepared a reproducible copy of the advertisement and encourages local Ukrainian American communities to fund the ad in their local newspapers.

"The Ugly Face of Freedom" segment was viewed by 17.5 million households. We will never be able to reach everybody. That's why we need the issue to be taken up from the grass roots, from the community level," he said.

Letters run the gamut

Letters received by the UHDC in response to the advertisement varied in sentiment - from congratulatory on challenging CBS's journalistic integrity, to Ukrainian-bashing.

Brith Sholom, a Jewish fraternal society in Philadelphia, wrote: "We share your rage at the segment of the '60 Minutes' October 23, 1994, program dealing with Jews and Ukrainians. Thus '60 Minutes' continues with its unblemished record of falsehood and distortion by misquoting, repressing facts and evidence, and taking events, utterances and policies out of context."

Barricade Books of New York City contends: " '60 Minutes' is right. My suggestion to you is that you close your mouths and hide your shame. The Ukrainians were animals in the camps - total animals - according to all the available testimony, including that of the Nazi commanders."

The UHDC has also received telephone calls, one from a Jew originally from Ivano-Frankivske who said that Ukrainian Catholic Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky saved his life during the war.

Six months after the broadcast of "The Ugly Face of Freedom," the campaign to counter CBS's allegations of anti-Semitism in western Ukraine continues with the dissemination of the advertisement in newspapers, the filing of FCC complaints against CBS stations and affiliates, and the writing of letters to sponsors of the October 23 broadcast. "The next time someone thinks of running a negative program on Ukraine, they'll remember this," said Mr. Mazur.

For more information or to make a donation, contact the Ukrainian Heritage Defense Committee, c/o the Ukrainian National Association, 30 Montgomery St., Jersey City, NJ 07302; (201) 451-2200.

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