Canadians also express outrage (11/13/94)

Canadians also express outrage

by Christopher Guly

OTTAWA - The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has called on CBS TV's "60 Minutes" to retract its October 23 broadcast of "The Ugly Face of Freedom."

The segment, which aired the first night President Leonid Kuchma spent in Ottawa on his first state visit outside Ukraine, suggested that western Ukraine is experiencing a wave of anti-Semitism.

In Canada, the UCC isn't alone in taking on CBS-TV. Dr. Dmytro Cipywnyk, president of the Ukrainian World Congress, on October 31 penned a letter expressing regret over the American network's promotion of "hatemongers' anti-Ukrainian agenda." He wrote: "The racist suggestion that Ukrainians are 'genetically anti-Semitic' seems to imply that perhaps a Nazi-style 'final solution' for Ukrainians would be welcomed by those responsible for this abominable program."

Meanwhile, in a November 2 news release, UCC President Oleh Romaniw called on "everyone who believes in fair, accurate and responsible reporting to protest the biased, inaccurate and blatantly racist report" broadcast by the American television network.

The UCC is also pursuing some recourse through the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission.

Marie Bender, a spokesperson for the CRTC, said that the commission has already received 20 complaints directed at Global-TV, the Canadian network that carried the CBS-TV broadcast. Under CRTC law, Global, not CBS, is responsible for airing the show and could theoretically lose its license if found in contempt of any Canadian broadcast regulations.

And it appears that many Canadians tuned in on October 23. Nielsen Marketing Research, based in Markham, Ontario, reported an audience of 490,000, mostly from Ontario. That's a little higher than the 403,000 average "60 Minutes" garnered in eight previous shows.

The larger viewership also generated its share of letter writing on the part of some Canadians.

One viewer, Herbert Alexander of Toronto, wrote a November 7 letter to the editor of The Toronto Star. In it, Mr. Alexander, whose letter appeared below a caricature of Adolf Hitler, wrote that he hoped that in providing aid to Ukraine, Canada would not be "financing the next holocaust." Similarly another, by Phillip De Zwirek also of Toronto, expressed hope that before the Canadian government rushes to give "Canadians' money away, we should examine the human-rights policy of Ukraine as we did in Haiti, China, North Korea and other areas of political and/or religious oppression."

Dr. Cipywnyk, who also serves as president of the Canadian Ethnocultural Council, said that the Ukrainian World Congress might begin legal action against the Star for "hate-mongering." He explained that "the media get lazy sometimes, and don't take the time to research an issue before printing a story. The two letters and editorial cartoon constitute hate propaganda."

In the UCC letter to CBS, Mr. Romaniw wrote that correspondent "Morley Safer's alleged reporting was nothing if not rife with racism and bigotry. Labeling the Ukrainian people as being 'genetically anti-Semitic' is hate-mongering of the worst kind...It was disgraceful and at the very minimum wants Mr. Safer's censurement."

Referring to allegations of Ukrainian-led, anti-Semitic atrocities during the second world war, Mr. Safer, in a voice-over, said "The Church and government of Ukraine have tried to ease people's fears, suggesting that things are not as serious as they might appear; that Ukrainians, despite the allegations, are not genetically anti-Semitic."

Echoing criticisms from the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, a November 3 letter from Yevhen Polishchuk, first secretary of the Ukrainian Embassy in Canada, which appeared in The Gazette in Montreal, blasted Mr. Safer's "journalistic irresponsibility and inaccuracy."

Mr. Polishchuk wrote: "Among the archival footage showing people being beaten was one discredited picture that was also featured in Time magazine about 18 months ago. The soldiers in this picture were not Ukrainian and the woman was probably not Jewish. After being advised of this error, Time apologized and retracted this picture."

One weapon the Ukrainian Embassy in Ottawa is using to step up its campaign against "60 Minutes" is an October 31 letter by Ukraine's chief rabbi, Yaakov Bleich, who was extensively interviewed throughout the controversial segment.

After the broadcast Rabbi Bleich wrote that it "did not convey the true state of affairs in Ukraine. I would also like to state unequivocally that my words were quoted out of the context that they were said."

The letter goes on: "Credit should be given where credit is due. The present government of Ukraine is continuing the policies of the previous government, has an excellent record in human rights, respecting the rights of national minorities in deeds and actions and not only on paper."

In fact, Dr. Cipywnyk insisted that the Jewish community in Ukraine is offered special treatment by the Ukrainian government.

As for those who lived in Ukraine during the height of the alleged anti-Semitic period in western Ukraine. Stephen Jaworsky, Canadian correspondent for Svoboda, said that "60 Minutes is "promoting hate propaganda."

Although he admits some anti-Semitism existed when he lived in Galicia prior to World War II, more often than not Jews and Ukrainians worked together. The allegations [in "The Ugly Face of Freedom"] are completely overblown," insisted Mr. Jaworsky. "I think a lot of it has to do with such pathological [Ukrainian] haters as [Nazi hunter] Simon Wiesenthal.

During the episode, Mr. Wiesenthal described a three-day killing spree, which claimed as many as 6,000 Jewish lives, led by the Ukrainian police. Mr. Safer then explained how Symon Petliura was responsible for slaughtering 60,000 Jews in 1919.

"Petliura was in fact responsible for counteracting many anti-Jewish programs," said Mr. Jaworsky.

As for "60 Minutes" depiction of other Ukrainian leaders as villains, including Roman Shukhevych and Stepan Bandera, the Ottawa-based journalist equally adamant about CBS's distortion reality.

"Bandera was incarcerated in concentration camp from 1941 to 1945, said Mr. Jaworsky, "and Shukhevych led an insurgent army that included many Jews."

Mr. Safer did not respond to a request for an interview.

However, Mr. Jaworsky thinks that the controversial "60 Minutes" episode is indicative of the fact "that Ukrainians have few friends" among the major American TV networks. "I'm quite frankly surprised why the Ukrainian community in the United States hasn't moved to get some influential Jews, like [former Secretary of State] Henry Kissinger, on its side," he said.

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