N~lson-a su~er-liberal who now heads the nuclear horror film shows that ABC ls

'sinformation Wilderness Society - said that those who feel this deliberately fanning the fires of anti-nuclear
st.ant of his·, ~ay ~e "like t?e guy who has mixed feelings sec- .by terla.
rmation from mg ~s mother-in-law drive off the cliff in his new
Aside from the left-wing radicals, the only non-
Society, who Cadillac. He ha.tes to lose the Cadillac, but on network people given the opportunity to see the
dinner party. balance, he's illing to let it go if the mothcr-in- film arc some citizens of the towns of Kansas City
didn't Caras la oes with it." · and Lawrence, who were given a special screening
d wh didn't H -ha. last week because they participated in the movie as
. In an interview, Nelson-whose mother-in-law extras.
~1ed at the ag~ ~f 97-defended his telling of this Media watchdog and conservative groups con-
~oke by e plarnmg that he didn't really tell this . cerned about media abuse, have decid~d to
Joke, he only told the Pos( reporter that this was counterattack. Accuracy in Media has cautioned
the wa some en ironmentalists felt about Watt potential ~dvertisers to beware of the movie, while
?cn~n t~at his repeating this joke was "tasteless'; the Amencan Legal Foundation and the American
h1ch 1s the ay he characterized Watt's re- Security Council are warning the network and its
mar - elson says he got no complaints about affiliate st~tiom that they may provoke requests
the mother-in-law joke. . · for equal time or even a Fairness Doctrine com-
el on sa s that unlike Watt''s remark, the jokeplaint if they show the film . .
he repeated is not "tasteless" because "family situ- As re~ders of HUMAN EVENTS know ABC is
ations in ol ing mother$-in-law, fathers-in-law planning to air the film on November shortly 20 1

sons-in-la and daughters-in-law have a long, ..a~ before NATO's planned deployment of Per-
least 100-year, history in comic opera, short shing II. missiles in 1=:urope. Anti-nuclear groups
_ tories, everything. There's no intent and nobody have said that they art! planning media events
c er, e er feels injured about them." around the showing of the film in order to protest
Nelson says he first ran across the mother-in-law that deployment.
joke 40 years ago "from W.C. Fields" and he In preparation for the broadcast, a group bas
notes, Archie Bunker also did a lot of in-iaw jokes. been formed which calls itself •~Target Kansas
When I press him about the possible tastelessness City/Let Lawrence Live," whose "national media
of his moth_er-in-law joke-or ·rather the mother- coordinator" is Josh Baran. Nuclear Times
in--:_law joke he says other environmentalists ·have magazine has reported that the group a project is
told-Nelson declines to argue, saying that this of the Greater Kansas City chapter of Physicians
kin~, of thing is "part of th~ humor of the coun- for Social Responsibility (PSR), which endorses
try . .. the nuclear freeze.
Well, now. I certainly agree with Nelson that i~- In a recent article, titled, "Groups Rally Around
tent is important. But this is a standard that was - r,....••,_lli:'!~ .
never applied to Jim Watt by bis enemies in the
Congress and in the media. No way. With this
bloodthirsty crew, much of the time, what Watt
said was assumed to be evil because Watt said it.
The Big Lie technique may be despicable, but
when it was used against Jim Watt it worked. And
you can bet that he will not be its last victim.
\
Rq,ru,tffl with pn-missiofl from IM WasltiltgtOfl Tunes

ct the "wrong
ated fact. Last
·t
--\
orted that San
banning rock Funny Business at ABC
er the rape of a
s assaulted in a Nuke War Movie Delights
od by cheering
e during a per- Unilateral Disarmers
oney and three
ah Heap and Officials of the ABC television network keep Above, a stilt from ABC's.movie, The Day After.
sayin& that their scheduled film, The Day After, is
TV Movie/' Nudear Times quoted Bar.u-i as s~y-
rge Mitrovich, non-poiidcal. i-ney say h only describes the effect
ing that the anti-nuclear movement wants to ex-
ember advisory of a nuclear attack on Kansas City, Mo., and its
ploit the ABC movie for its own purposes. He said
er another rock aftermath in nearby Lawrence, Kan. They also
several pro-freeze groups plan "to turn, television
e all right with keep saying that they don't know how so many ad-
commercial event into an educational event on our
like what hap- vance copies of the film made their way into the
hands of anti-nuclear activists. terms."
PSR distributes its own movie, The Last
But the fact that, at this late date, conservative
Epidemic, featuring a discussion of the medical
groups still have not been given an opportunity to
consequences of nuclear weapons and nuclear war.
see the film, suggests that ABC is playing politics The film stars Helen Caldicott, the past president
with this controversial movie. of PSR. Josh Baran says that the ABC movie is
Moreover, the absence of any concerted at- similar to The Last pidemic, but he told Nuclear
tempt to discourage the distribution of Times that in one night 10 to 20 times more people
"contraband" or "bootlegged" copies of this

888
 r - - - - - - - - - - -_ _ _ _ _ lnslclU
will see the network film than ever viewed the
Caldicott documentary. .
Some conservatives have been portrayed as irra-
tional because they have criticized the film without
seeing it. But ABC has not yet given them a screen-
ing, despite repeated requests for one.
American Security Council President John
Fisher says the fact that the anti-nuclear movement
has had a preview of the film indicates that
''someone in the production end is sympathetic to
the pro-freeze side.ff
If the American Security Council had produced
a film, which was, in effect, stolen and then boot-
legged, Fisher said his group would find out Who
the culprit was and "have him in court."
ABC, faced with a similar situation, has pro-
fessed some alarm that anti-nuclear forces have co-
opted the movie as their own, but has not yet given
John Fisher or other conservatives a chance to see
it.
Furthermore, Patti Matson, vice president for
public relations at ABC, acknowledged that no
investigation has been launched into how the con-
traband copies of the film were made available to
the anti-nuclear forces.
When asked why this was the case, she said, "I
can make a couple of calls and see if perhaps on the
West Coast something has been done about it."
She added, "Obviously, it's our product and we
feel we should be screening it when it's ready and
not have half-finished copies floating around the
country." This was a reference to the ABC claim
that the contraband copies are unedited versions of
what will ultimately be shown on television.
Confronted with the reality that they will not be
given an official screening for at least a few weeks,
· first of all, that they not broadcast the program,
conservative groups have had to react on the basis
of press accounts of the film.
"Since Rep. Edward Markey [D.-Mass.] and
people like that seem just ecstatic about it, we have
to assume that the/ve got a reasonable degree of
intelligence and have determined that the net effect
serves their purposes," ASC President Fisher told
us~
Indeed, Markey, a leading pro-freeze advocate,
·,.i,~:::· quoted in the Washington Post last week as
c.··:--1.g the film "a great movie." He said it will
bt.~;' the pro-freeze case with the American people
and will "help move the Administration toward
signing a treaty" with the Soviet Union.
When asked how his screening was arranged,
Markey told the Post, "I can't tell you how I saw
it!'
Another pro-freeze advocate in the House, Rep.
Thomas Downey (D.-N.Y.), has seen the film and
is also enthusiastic. According to the New York
Times, Downey is organizing a confercncc in the
New York City area on Nov=mber 5, titled,
"Nuclear Lessons: Teaching for The Day
After.' " . declined to offer specifics.
Steven Solomon, the congressman's press sec-
retary, said that Downey "felt it was a powerful
movie." But when asked how the screening was ar-
ranged, Solomon told us,~'We can't really g~ into
that." Why riot?·
·sally Bedell Smith, the New York Times reporter
who has written extensively about the film, said
that she saw a bootlegged version but couldn't tell
~IT~
us how that was arranged either, because it would
reveal a "source." Mo
ABC has announced that, following the movie, a
special edition of the "Viewpoint" program will be
presented, which will feature both sides of the Ke
nuclear debate. But it's doubtful that many viewers Su
will tune in for that, even if they make it through
what promises to be a frightening and possibly
emotionally disturbing film. Se
neut1
As a result, conservatives have come up befo
with alternative strategies to counter the but
movie. "If all the publicity about the film is
Tho1
correct," Fisher said, "then we will be asking
each ABC station for equal time to show our
film Countdown for Ame~ica, [which is pro-
defense and anti-freeze], and to present it as a
public service program."
Fisher added, "We could also invite our
members and contributors in the different cities
across the country to start watching the ABC sta-
tion in their area for the period before and after the
film. If, in their judgment, the ..:overage has not
been balanced, they could file Fairness Doctrine
complaints" with the Federal Communications
Commission. The FCC might not do anything
about the complaints, Fisher said, but the local
affiliates would nevertheless be forced to respond
to them and might alter their coverage of the
nuclear issue as a result. These affiliates might even
put som~ pressure on the network, he added.
The American Legal Foundation, a conservative
public interest law firm, is also planning a similar Falw
challenge. William A. Kehoe, the group's ex- defer
ecutive director, told us last week ihat "We are in const
the process of writing the ABC affiliates asking, wrotl
Octo
and secondly, if they do, that they give equal time
to contrasting viewpoints." Wl
On September 30, A~curacy in Media Chairman of a
Reed Irvine sent letters to the chairmc.n of the Kenn
boards of 450 major advertisers which said, in positi
part: "Whether or not it was the intention of ABC Jerry
to air this movie as a contribution to the opponents other
of the deployment of the Pershings is beside the
point. The fact is that it is such a contribution. The "&
other side of the story-the importance of pre- men,
venting nuclear war or conventional world war move·
through deterrence - is not receiving a com- case c
parable dramatic presentation by the network." . but it
The letter noted that "it seems clear from press sonal
accounts" that the movie will be a "one-sided conse
contribution to an important national and interna-
tional debate." Irvine said, "The contribution "C
seems to be on the side of the debate favored by the for la
perpetrators of the Korean Air Lines massacre and and f
against the position of the United States govern- visit<
ment." tinuc
· ABC official Matson cl~imcd that advertising
sales for the movie were 64 progressing nicely," but "B
Each
One thing is certain: the companies who adver- does
tisc will do so at their own risk. Conservatives will
take their names down.
• Interested readers may wish to voice their con-
cerns with Leonard H. Goldenson, chairman of the
Board: ABC, 1330 Avenue of the Americas, New
York, N.Y. 10019. Or give him a call at (212)
887-7777.