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But the Journal-Bulletin found that Facts Forum is hardly nonpartisan. It is used as a political megaphone for Oilman Hunt, who "feels that the Democratic Party, except for the Dixiecrat movement, is the instrument of socialism and Communism in this country, and that the Republican Party as presently constituted displays dangerously radical tendencies." The "both sides" programs, which are supposed to present impartially different views on public issues, sometimes do just that. But often, wrote Bagdikian, they are heavily weighted towards Facts Forum's own point of view, which is compounded of "isolationism, ultraconservatism and McCarthyism." In Facts Forum's view, any Government planning at all is "collectivism . . . responsible for all of the first-rate achievements of Communism in the U.S." Critics of Facts Forum's views are often charged with "subversion, betrayal and treason."
Although Hunt denies any direct connection with Senator Joe McCarthy, the Journal-Bulletin found that, more often than not, "half [Facts Forum's] basic program ... is devoted to [his] political philosophy," plugging his speeches or putting on speakers who describe McCarthy in such terms as "alongside of Paul Revere." Senator McCarthy's new wife, the former Jean Kerr, who has been his research assistant, helped set up a national Facts Forum TV program, along with Robert E. Lee. Three months ago, Lee, who is a close friend of McCarthy's and whose only communications experience is as Facts Forum's first national TV moderator, was appointed by President Eisenhower to the Federal Communications Commission. Although his appointment has not yet been confirmed by the Senate, one of Lee's first official acts was to vote in favor of granting Hunt a TV franchise in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The Polls. Facts Forum's "public-opinion polls" are no less partial than its air programs, reported the Journal-Bulletin. Although they are sent out to newspapers and radio stations as samples of U.S. public opinion, they are largely postcard polls of Facts Forum's own "participants" (to which only one in ten replies). Sample "yes or no" questions: "Are the pink segments of the press losing their power?" "Is Congress inadvisably abdicating its constitutional power?" "Did proCommunists in the U.S. bring about the Korean war?" Since most newspapers and radio and TV stations pay little attention to the polls, Facts Forum tells its members : "Some newspapers may not consider [them] news. They will know of your interest if you call or write them for results."
The public-opinion poll, says Reporter Bagdikian, is not a cross-section poll but merely what Facts Forum calls a device for exerting a "powerful psychological force for good" on news organs and members of Congress. Facts Forum has another device for getting space in newspapers ; it pays for letters to the editor. The Journal-Bulletin found that Facts Forum handed out $3,630 for published letters that expressed "isolationist or anti-U.N. or pro-McCarthy" views, while it paid only $439 for letters representing opposing views.