FCC Backs 2 Networks on Fairness : CBS, ABC Didn’t Break Rules in News About Pentagon, CIA

No federal rules of fairness were violated when CBS aired a report critical of the Pentagon or when ABC broadcast one that charged the Central Intelligence Agency with seeking to kill an American businessman, the Federal Communications Commission ruled today.

The commission dismissed complaints against both networks. In so doing, it may have sown the seeds for a challenge of the so-called Fairness Doctrine before the Supreme Court.

The ABC case involved reconsideration of the commission staff’s earlier dismissal of a complaint by the CIA that the network deliberately distorted reports broadcast last September that said the agency plotted to murder Ronald Rewald, who is defending himself against fraud charges by saying his company was a CIA front.

Complaint Issue Untouched

The full commission’s decision also left untouched the staff determination that it is permissible for a federal agency, such as the CIA, to make a Fairness Doctrine complaint.

The January staff decision dismissed the CIA complaint on procedural grounds, in effect saying the complaint did not meet the commission’s rigid standards which require those who complain to try to work out matters with the broadcaster before approaching the commission.

In February, the CIA went back to the FCC with an amended complaint which attempted to address the procedural deficiencies.

Distortion Alleged

The other case involves a complaint by the American Legal Foundation against Our Times with Bill Moyers, a CBS program which questioned the suitability of two major weapons systems. The foundation said CBS distorted the issue.

The FCC ruling said that even if statements in the broadcast were inaccurate, the foundation failed to show the extrinsic evidence which the commission requires to show that CBS knowingly distorted the facts.