Evening star., 1942-01-12
n. B. T.. Calls Order
ByF. {. {. Equivalent
To Censorship
Broodcosting Connot
Survive Impact Of
Decree, Court Told
By the Associated Press.

WOrk 0r0aQCaSCln8, na0 uSurQeQ Lne
authority of the Federal Court and
raised threat to freedom OF speech
tantamount to censorship.
John r. Cahill, addressing q three
man court on behalf Of N. B. c. and
Associate Broadcasters, appealed for
an injunction annulling the F. c. C..
order, declaring that otherwise N. B.
c. would suffer irreparable injury.
"Broadcasting cannot survive the
impact of the F.. C. c. order" said
Mr.. Cahill, former United States at
torney for the Southern New York
district. "A collapse Of network
broadcasting is an inevitable result
unless the court acts speedily"
Self-Appointed Expert"
The F.. c. c. orders would bar ex-
clusiveness In contracts between net
works and aff1liated stations and
would prohibit N. B. c. from owning
two networks.
In this connection, Mr.. Cahill
pointed out that N. B. c. already
has segregated the assets OF the
blue network and now operates only
one national network, the red.
The Columbia Broadcasting Sys-
tenn also is seeking relief from the
orders and will present its brief
later in the hearing before the
special statutory court consisting of
Judges Learned Hand. John Bright
anad Henry w. Goddard.
The Mutual Broadcasting System
entered the case as a friend of the
court.
Mr.. Cahill asserted that the F.
c. C.. had become q self-appointed
efficiency expert" and considered
itself more capable of directing the
business policies Of the broadcasters
than their elected executives.
Charges Usurpation.
The F. C. C. without legal right
has usurped the authority of the
Federal court in seeking to deter
mine that the N. B. c. network
operation constitutes an unlawful
monopoly" he said
He continued that the F. c. C's
claim of power was, ION its face" an
invasion Of the rights guaranteed by
section 326 of the Communications
Act and by the first amendment to
the Constitution.
"A power to impose prior restraints
upon the publication and circulation
of news and ideas would put into the
hands of the F, c. C. a power to
repress free speech" he said. This
would be the power of censorship"
Tictional authority has been
built up by the Federal Communica-
tions Commission to bolster its pro-
posed order seeking to compel re-
vision of business arrangements be-
tween network broadcasting organi-
cations and 500 broadcasting sta
tions.' he continued.
Orderly Use of the Air.
Mr. Cahill said that the Commu-
nications Act of 1884 specifically
provided that "a person engaged in
radio broadcasting shall not, insofar
as such person is so engaged, be
deemed common carrier" thereby
excluding from the act any intent
to so regulate the broadcasting bus
iness.
He referred to excerpts from con-
gressional debates and Supreme
Court decisions seeking to show that
considerations of monopoly" had to
do with monopoly of air time and
not the business of broadcasting;
and that the congressional objective
in passing the act under which the
F.. c. c. operates was "an orderly
use of the air"
He said that Congress, in passing
the 1884 Communications Act, omit
ted provisions requiring the Com
mission to distribute broadcasting
licenses so that no one licensee or
organization of licensees should ex-
| ercise dominant control over the
broadcasting facilities in any To-
| cality.
attacks" Instigated.
Niles Trammell. president Of N.
B. c., declared yesterday the
s10,275 900 suit filed against N
B. c. by the Mutual Broadcast
ing System, was "the elimination of
a series of attacks" which he said
M. B. 8. had instigated since
N. B. c. refused to sell to it impor-
tant parts of the Blue network"
The NJ B. S. suit, filed in Federal
Court in Chicago by M. B. S. and six
affiliated stations, named N. B. c.
and the Radio Corp. of America as
defendants. 1t charged that they
had violated the Sherman Anti
Trust law by hindering Mutual in
the sale of national network time
and by restricting Mutual in its
ability to freely and fairly compete
in the transmission in interstate
commerce of Nationwide network
programs"
Trammell Issues Statement.
Commenting on the suit, Mr..
Trammell said in a statement re-
leased by N. B. c.:
This suit is the elimination OF q
series of attacks that have been in
stigated against N. B. G. and the
Blue network by Mutual since N. B.
c. refused to sell to it important
parts of the Blue network.
1T should now be revealed that
dDOuI IWO ycdlo dSO IAAC NOAAAAAAoAA'
interests in Mutual, r. H. Macy 6
Co. and the Chicago Tribune sought
to purchase parts Of the Blue net
work from us, which would have
destroyed the value as coast-to-
coast network. BY such elimina-
ton of the Blue, these interests
sought to diminish rather than to
increase network competition. There
would have been three Nationwide
networks instead of four as at pres
ent.
I'VE refused to dismember the
Blue network Mutual began cam
paigns in Washington and else
where. urging the adoption by the
F. C. c. of new network regulations
which would enable Mutual to
achieve the end it sought. Mean
while, Mutual also induced breaches
of contract between our Blue net
u,ork opd of771ioted sfatiOns fart