FOR THE RECORD: Excerpts of decision in Serafyn et al v. FCC (08/16/98)

FOR THE RECORD: Excerpts of decision in Serafyn et al v. FCC

Below is an excerpt from the decision issued on August 11 by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the case of Alexander J. Serafyn et al v. Federal Communications Commission.

In 1994 CBS produced and broadcast a controversial segment of "60 Minutes" entitled "The Ugly Face of Freedom," about modern Ukraine. The broadcast angered some viewers who believed that many elements of the program had been designed to give the impression that all Ukrainians harbor a strongly negative attitude toward Jews. For example, interviewer Morley Safer suggested that Ukrainians were "genetically anti-Semitic" and "uneducated peasants, deeply superstitious." Also, soundbites from an interview with the Chief Rabbi of Lviv, Yaakov Bleich, gave viewers the impression that he believes all Ukrainians are anti-Semites who want all Jews to leave Ukraine. In addition, CBS overlaid the sound of marching boots on a film clip of Ukrainian boy scouts walking to church and introduced it in such a way as to give viewers the impression that they were seeing "a neo-Nazi, Hitler Youth-like movement." The narrator also stated that the Ukrainian Galicia Division had helped in the round-up and execution of Jews from Lviv in 1941, though this Division was not in fact even formed until 1943 and therefore could not possibly have participated in the deed. Perhaps most egregiously, when Ukrainian speakers used the term "Zhyd," which means simply "Jew," they were translated as having said "kike," which is a derogatory term.

After the broadcast interviewees and members of the Ukrainian American community deluged CBS with letters. In his letter Rabbi Bleich stated "unequivocally" that his "words were quoted out of the context that they were said" and that "the CBS broadcast was unbalanced" and "did not convey the true state of affairs in Ukraine." Cardinal Lubachivsky, the head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, who had also been interviewed, both sent a letter to CBS and released a statement to the press. In the latter he stated, "[M]y office was misled as to the actual thrust of the report. Mr. Fager [the producer] presented the piece as one about 'post-Communist Ukraine.' ... I can only deduce that the goal of the report was to present all western Ukrainians as rabid anti-Semites." Many other viewers pointed out historical inaccuracies and offensive statements or characterizations in the show. ...

... Alexander Serafyn, an American of Ukrainian ancestry, petitioned the Commission to deny or to set for hearing the application of CBS to be assigned the licenses of two stations, arguing that the "60 Minutes" broadcast showed that CBS had distorted the news and therefore failed to serve the public interest. In support of his petition, Serafyn submitted the broadcast itself, outtakes of interviews with Rabbi Bleich, viewer letters, a dictionary supporting his claim about the mistranslation of "Zhyd," historical information about the Galicia Division, information showing that CBS had rebuffed the offer of a professor of Ukrainian history to help CBS understand the subject, and seven other items of evidence.

Serafyn also submitted evidence that "60 Minutes" had no policy against news distortion and indeed that management considered some distortion acceptable. For example, according to the Washington Post, Mike Wallace, a longtime reporter for "60 Minutes," told an interviewer: "You don't like to baldly lie, but I have." (Colman McCarthy, The TV Whisper, Washington Post, January 7, 1995, at A21.) Don Hewitt, the executive producer of "60 Minutes," is quoted in the same article as saying that some deception is permissible because "[i]t's the small crime vs. the greater good," and elsewhere as saying that "I wouldn't make Hitler look bad on the air if I could get a good story." (Richard Jerome, Don Hewitt, People, April 24, 1995, at 85, 90.)

CBS, taking the position that any official investigation into its news broadcasting "offends the protections of a free press," did not submit any evidence. Nonetheless, the Commission denied the petition without a hearing.

Ukrainians win a round in case against CBS

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