Helen Whitney

For the actress of a similar name, see Helene Whitney.

Helen Whitney is an award-winning American documentary filmmaker and producer.[1] She produced a documentary called American Inquisition, which became the subject of a very famous case about First Amendment rights.

American Inquisition examined how McCarthyism had affected the small town of Fairmont, West Virginia.[2] Journalist Victor Lasky sued ABC over his depiction 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 reportedly led to her termination and blacklisting. She later attempted suicide. Lasky maintained that the program inaccurately reported that he had called Mundel a Communist.

Whitney's latest documentary, The Mormons, aired nationally on PBS on April 30 and May 1, 2007. Other work includes the following documentaries:

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ Abrams, Floyd (2005). Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment. Viking Adult. p. 153. ISBN 0670033758. 
  2. ^ Abrams, Floyd (2005). Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment. Viking Adult. pp. 153–58. ISBN 0670033758. 
  3. ^ Geoffrey Stone, Supreme Court Tales From the Pleading Side of the Bench (book review), New York Times, April 16, 2005, via University of Chicago School of Law @ Law.UChicago.edu.
  4. ^ Abrams, Floyd (2005). Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment. Viking Adult. p. 154. ISBN 0670033758.