← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Centinel
Thread ID: 15053 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2004-09-19
2004-09-19 19:44 | User Profile
From The Cleveland Plain Dealer: [url]http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1095240855192120.xml[/url]
**Judge rules anti-Jewish radio show stays off air **
Wednesday, September 15, 2004 Jim Nichols Plain Dealer Reporter
A judge refused Tuesday to order WERE AM/1300 to broadcast a volatile radio show that the station canceled this month amid complaints that its hosts are virulently anti-Semitic.
But Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge William Coyne allowed the hosts of "Politically Damned" to proceed with a $35 million lawsuit against the station and its owners.
The plaintiffs and former talk-show hosts are Abe Ayad, 37, of Cleveland, who often inflamed Jews by painting anti-Zionist rhetoric on his East 55th Street convenience store; and Michael Troy Watson, a 52-year-old Cleveland lawyer whose license to practice law was suspended by the Ohio Supreme Court. The two are not employees of WERE AM/1300 but bought air time five nights a week.
They claimed that station owner Radio One, "part of the liberal media cabal," breached a contract and violated their free speech by taking them off the air without notice. Radio One countered that its contract with the pair expired Sept. 3 and that it always made clear that it could cancel any show it deems inappropriate.
Coyne balked at issuing a temporary restraining order to put the pair back on the air. He said that while their claims are not likely to succeed at trial, a jury will ultimately decide.
Watson describes himself as a "hard-core, conservative, black Republican." Ayad has derided Israel and once depicted Jews as monkeys in a mural on his former store.
They peppered their program with attacks on liberals, Zionists and what they consider a vast Jewish conspiracy to control the United States and its news media. Presidential candidate John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and a Catholic of Jewish ancestry, was a favorite target.
Complaints about the program's content prompted a front-page story in the Aug. 27 edition of Cleveland Jewish News, in which the national head of the Anti-Defamation League called for the show's cancellation. A week later, that wish came true.
In a complaint filed Friday, Ayad and Watson refer to their critics as "Jewish terrorists." They argued in court that a series of two-week contracts superseded the one-year pact.
Radio One's lead lawyer, Joel Lavity, disputed that, saying the radio station is not bound by the First Amendment, which protects free speech from government infringement.
Afterward, Watson said an Internet radio site called crusaderadio.com has picked up the program and will disseminate it weeknights at 8 p.m.
"We are getting ripped here," Watson said. "We are a show of alternative views. And the media cabal has come down on us."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
[email]jnichols@plaind.com[/email], 216-999-4111
2004-09-19 23:24 | User Profile
Actually the ruling didn't sound that unfavorable for a private radio station. The judge allows the civil suit to proceed, just didn't order the station to continue airing the show by public service requirements.