Opinion ID: 303593
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Petitioner and the Broadcast Giving Rise to the Complaint

Text: 3 According to petitioner's brief, this case thus originated: 4 On Sunday, February 16, 1969, the Los Angeles Times featured a profile of the petitioner entitled Patriot-Marxist-L. A.'s Number One Red Finds the U.S. Isn't All Bad. Reciting that petitioner is a Marxist, a Communist and an atheist, the profile stated that Dorothy Healey might be considered an exemplary American and a good member of the bourgeoisie . . . she owns her home, pays her taxes, cares for her aged mother, dotes on her scholarly son and generally likes folks, young and old. She professes a sincere patriotism, and for years, while her son was in school, she rarely missed a meeting of the P.T.A. 5 Describing Mrs. Healey's early commitment to Communism, the profile related the arrests and prosecutions that arose from her Communist identification. The devastating effect of these on her young son were developed. So, too, were her views on the bugging of her home and office and their consequences upon the lives of persons who had any associations with her. 6 The next day George Putnam devoted approximately six minutes of the licensee's 4:30 and 10:00 P.M. News Reports to an expression of his rage at the Los Angeles Times' story. Putnam quoted several portions of the Times' profile, and paraphrased its description of her career. Then, inter alia, referring to the Times' statement that Dorothy Healey sobbed all night long on hearing Krushchev's [sic] report concerning the horrors committed by Joseph Stalin, Putnam asked, One can't help but wonder if she might have lost another night's sleep had Krushchev [sic] told us of his own extermination of millions of Ukranians by systematic starvation. Wonder if she ever heard about that? Again, referring to the Times' telling of her home and office being bugged, Putnam remarked, Actually, Mrs. Healey should be right at home with such tactics-because they're all too commonplace among the Communists. 7 Quoting the Times' statement that often parents of youths who have visited her are threatened with the loss of their jobs, Putnam said, Come, come, now Dorothy-perhaps under Communism-perhaps under the Nazis-but it just doesn't happen in the United States of America. Dorothy Healey may be the Los Angeles Times' kind of exemplary American . . ., Putnam concluded, but she sure as hell is not mine. And, my fellow Americans, I trust she is not yours. And if you are as shocked as I am by this insult to American patriotism, I urge you to let the Times hear your voice loud and clear. 3 8 By letter of 6 March 1969 the petitioner requested time for reply, which was rejected by the station. By letter of 26 March 1969 the petitioner requested the FCC to review this matter and take action calculated to secure for Mrs. Healey time to reply, to which, we submit, she is entitled under the rules and principles established by the F.C.C. The petitioner alleged that [a] demand has been made and rejected that Mrs. Healey be given time to reply to the attack upon her. According to petitioner, the principles justifying this request were: In the first place, your 'fairness doctrine' calls for the granting of equal time when 'an attack is made upon the honesty, character, integrity, or like personal qualities of an identified person or group.' The letter then cited three specific items constituting the alleged attack on Mrs. Healey, namely (1) the reference to Khrushchev's extermination of millions of Ukranians, (2) the reference to the tactics of bugging, and (3) the reference to her associates being threatened with the loss of jobs, all as mentioned above. 9 After an FCC inquiry to the station, the station's reply justifying its action, and comment by petitioner Healey's attorney thereon to the FCC, the FCC on 24 June 1970 rejected the petitioner's complaint. On the ground that the FCC proceedings had consumed too much time already, without seeking reconsideration by the FCC, the petitioner appealed directly to this court. 10