Helen Whitney

Helen Whitney is an award-winning producer for the American Broadcasting Corporation. [cite book
last= Abrams
first=Floyd
title=Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment
publisher=Viking Adult
date=2005
pages = pg. 153
ID = ISBN 0670033758 ] 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. [cite book
last= Abrams
first=Floyd
title=Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment
publisher=Viking Adult
date=2005
pages = pp. 153-158
ID = ISBN 0670033758]
Victor Lasky, "the rightwing journalist" who rose to prominence in the McCarthy era, sued ABC over his depicition in the show. [Geoffrey Stone, [http://www.law.uchicago.edu/news/stone-floyd-review.html Supreme Court Tales From the Pleading Side of the Bench] (book review), The New York Times, April 16, 2005, via Law.UChicago.edu.] 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. [cite book
last= Abrams
first=Floyd
title=Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment
publisher=Viking Adult
date=2005
pages = pg. 154
ID = ISBN 0670033758 ] 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)

ee also

*List of prominent cases argued by Floyd Abrams
*Luella Mundel
*Victor Lasky
*The Mormons

External links

* [http://www.helenwhitney.com/ helenwhitney.com]
* [http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C650222861%2C00.html Review of "The Mormons"]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/arts/television/30morm.html?ex=1335585600&en=09130f93abaee577&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss NY Times Review of "The Mormons"]

References