Evening star., 1950-08-31
Red Channels

Another indication of the speed with which
we seem to be moving in the direction of kind
of self-imposed theological tyranny in this
country is the emergence, according to the New
York Times of booklet called Red Channels as
the bible of Madison Avenue"
Red Channels carries a listing of radio and
television actors writer's producers and directors
suspected of being Communists or having Com
munist sympathies. 1t was published by Counter
Attack a kind of anti-subversive newsletter,
whose editor is Theodore kirkpatrick, former
FBI agent. Mr.. Kirkpatrick has indicated that
he works closely with the House Committee on
Un-American Activities, and presumably much
of the information in Red Channels came from
that source.
Whatever the source however, the booklet
seems to exert potent influence along Madison
avenue, generally recognized as the center of
the New York advertising industry. few days
ago Actress Jean Muir, despite her denials Of
any Communist connections, was dropped from
the television cast of the Aldrich Family She
was listed in Red Channels, and complaints had
been received by the General Foods Corporation,
sponsor of the show According to the Times,
one of the most responsible and conservative
executives in broadcasting" thinks that Miss
Muir's case is only the beginning, that virtual
purge is imminent in the radio industry.
This obviously is something which goes far
beyond the Federal loyalty program, in which
accused employees are entitled to a hearing and
are not supposed to be dismissed unless, on all
the evidence, there are reasonable grounds to
doubt their loyalty. Apparently not even these
minimal safeguards against injustice are to
prevail in the radio industry. Mr.. Kirkpatrick
has indicated that upon a showing of proof
satisfactory to him persons who deny Communist
Affiliations may have their names removed from
Red Channels. But that, at best, is the fimsiest
kind of safeguard against abuse, and is fantastic
exercise of authority over the affairs of other
people by private individual.
The desirability of getting rid of Communists
and their sympathizers in the radio industry is
not open to dispute. Left alone, they could and
undoubtedly would use radio and television for
Communist propaganda purposes. But there is
both right way and wrong way of going about
this
The right way is to dismiss after charges
have been made and an adequate opportunity
given for defense. The wrong way is to summarily
dismiss, without an opportunity for defense,
merely because some private organization has
compiled blacklist which may or may not have
been based on creditable evidence We have only
recently emerged from period in which those
who opposed the activities of the left-wingers
were hooted down as Red baiters and Fascist
reactionaries Now that the public mood is
changing we should take care that the pendulum
does not swing to the opposite, equally dangerous,
extreme.
1t seems to The Star that the American Civil
Liberties Union, which has filed protest in Miss
Muir's case, is right when it says: "Just as we
oppose censorship by public authority, we deplore
suppression by private pressure" Private organ
izations, of course, may exert pressure if they
wish to do so. But we should not lose sight of
the fact that the traditional American devotion
to decent standard of what is right and what
is wrong will diminish as the success of private
pressure tactics increases