CIA Renews Its Charges Against ABC
The CIA, appealing a ruling last month by the Federal Communications Commission staff, Friday accused ABC News of deliberate news distortion and of broadcasting false and unfounded charges--including a personal attack on President Reagan.
In a 74-page petition filed at FCC headquarters, the CIA asked the FCC to reconsider the dismissal by its staff of its earlier complaint--the first such complaint ever filed by a federal agency against a television network.
The new CIA complaint attempted to meet the procedural objections of the FCC staff to the agency’s initial charges against ABC. The CIA said that ABC had violated the commission’s fairness doctrine in a series of news reports broadcast last Sept. 19, 20 and 26.
Footage of Reagan
The Friday petition provides more details of the CIA’s objections to the disputed reports and includes the charge that use of file footage of Reagan in the reports implied that he “was engaged in duplicitous, deceitful conduct.”
The ABC News reports accused the intelligence agency of using a now-bankrupt Honolulu investment firm as a cover for illegal operations throughout Asia and the Pacific, including arms shipments to Taiwan.
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