Incestuous Invective

"I hold NBC to be guilty of violating my rights under the First Amendment. If this has to be resolved in the courts, that is O.K. with me."

That televised tirade would not have been remarkable coming from a public official demanding equal time. But it came from Len O'Connor, Chicago's most respected television commentator, and O'Connor used his regular evening-news spot on WMAQ--which happens to be owned by NBC--to castigate his employer of 34 years.

On the following two evenings a fortnight ago, O'Connor again startled his audience of 725,000 by pressing his attack. He said that the network had "compromised my integrity," and excoriated his superiors--by name--for plotting to fire him. Said O'Connor: "If NBC had any guts, they would do it right now with some degree of honor."

O'Connor's three-night burst of invective, which must be a bizarre first for television news, was the high point of an incestuous melodrama starring the crusty silver-maned commentator, Illinois politicians, station and network executives, the FCC and a couple of public-spirited wives.

The dispute began last January, when O'Connor broadcast a commentary criticizing Governor Dan Walker for failing to fulfill a campaign pledge to do away with the patronage system in state government. "Walker wasted no time," he said, "loading up the payroll with people who had worked for him."

O'Connor cited the case of Bruce Sagan, publisher of a string of suburban Chicago weeklies, whom Walker had appointed chairman of the Illinois Arts Council. Mrs. O'Connor is also a member of the I.A.C. The council, O'Connor charged, was dispensing "big money" to the Chicago Dance Foundation, which is headed by Sagan's wife.

Sagan complained to WMAQ executives, who offered him rebuttal time. Instead of accepting, Sagan filed a formal protest with the FCC. The complaint was dismissed by the commission's staff, and the issue seemed dead.

Sagan was not ready to quit. He appealed to the FCC, asking for a reversal of the staff finding. During the summer, NBC lawyers in Washington began negotiating with Sagan's lawyers to give the publisher ah-time acceptable to him if he would drop his formal complaint.

One proviso was that Sagan not discuss "third parties" on the air--a reference to Mrs. Sagan and Mrs. O'Connor.

When O'Connor learned about that backstage Washington dickering, he was livid. He felt that NBC, by seeking to avoid a fight before the commission, had created the impression that his case was weak. Counters WMAQ General Manager Len Schulman: "We're not going to defend every case in every court to protect Len's reputation."

O'Connor, who has won a number of local Emmys and Illinois Associated Press awards, has stopped his televised attacks on the network for now but is threatening to sue NBC unless the network gives him a written promise that henceforth it will defend him whenever a viewer lodges a formal complaint. He argues that his contract already contains an implied assurance of support.

O'Connor seems to be courting dismissal from his more than $100,000-a-year job, but his employers are reluctant to fire so popular a personality. A crucial Nielsen ratings period for Chicago stations is coming up later this month. WMAQ News held a slim three-point lead over the ABC outlet and a seven-point lead over the CBS station last May. A single ratings point in the lucrative Chicago market is worth upwards of $1 million a year in ad revenue. WMAQ does not want to lose the man whose outbursts have become one of the most exciting shows in town.

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