Helen Whitney

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Helen Whitney is an award-winning producer for the American Broadcasting Corporation.[1] She produced a documentary called American Inquisition, which became the subject of a very famous case about First Amendment rights. The piece examined how McCarthyism had affected the small town of Fairmont, West Virginia.[2] Victor Lasky, "the rightwing journalist" who rose to prominence in the McCarthy era, sued ABC over his depicition in the show.[3] The central issue was whether Lasky had accused Luella Mundel at an American Legion meeting in 1951 of being a Communist. Mundel was the head of the art department of Fairmont State College in Fairmont, West Virginia.[4] In this environment, the question alone led to her termination and blacklisting. She later attempted suicide. Lasky maintained that the program inaccurately reported that he had called Mundel a Communist.

Her latest documentary, The Mormons, aired nationally on PBS on April 30 and May 1, 2007.

Other work includes the following documentaries:

  • Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero (PBS Frontline, 120 minutes)
  • John Paul II: The Millennial Pope (PBS Frontline, 150 minutes)
  • The Choice '96- (PBS Frontline, 120 minutes)
  • Richard Avedon: Darkness and Light (PBS American Masters, 90 minutes)
  • Society: Class In Great Britain (Turner Network, 60 minutes)
  • They Have Souls Too (ABC Close-Up, 60 minutes)
  • American Inquisition (ABC Close-Up, 60 minutes)
  • The Monastery (ABC Close-Up, 90 minutes)
  • Homosexuals (ABC Close-Up, 60 minutes)
  • Youth Terror: The View From Behind The Gun (ABC Close-Up, 60 minutes)
  • First Edition (PBS, 30 minutes)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

helenwhitney.com

Review of "The Mormons"

NY Times Review of "The Mormons"

[edit] References

  1. ^ Abrams, Floyd (2005). Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment. Viking Adult, pg. 153. 
  2. ^ Abrams, Floyd (2005). Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment. Viking Adult, pp. 153-158. 
  3. ^ Geoffrey Stone, Supreme Court Tales From the Pleading Side of the Bench (book review), The New York Times, April 16, 2005, via Law.UChicago.edu.
  4. ^ Abrams, Floyd (2005). Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment. Viking Adult, pg. 154. 


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