The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-12-09

Let the State Department issue a
statement over the signatures of
the secretary of state; every news.
paper in the country will publish it,.
Mr.. Olds made a gesture Of fear.
The State Department could no;
charge a neighboring country with
which we were in ostensibly friend.
ly relations with things which it was
not in position to prove. 1t wanted
its allegations made, but did no.
want to be held responsible for
them. 1t had no proof. After
some discussion one Of the news.
paper men suggested that Mr.. Odds
Unprovable bogy might be doveta,led
into story OF the impending receg
milton by the United States of the
Diaz government in Nicaragua. And
so it was-by the Associated Press. -
Explains DOctOring
After explaining how certain for.
eign news coming to this country
is doctored to suit the purposes of
the various governments, The Ma
ton comments:
Nor is it Washington news alone
that is distorted by officialdom. At
the American legation in Pekih the
newspaper men daily meet a gentle
man who talks of the Cantonese as
'bolshevik,' and gives his own nu-
ance to the neWs-and the Asso-
ciated Press news which comes TO us
from China is gathered for it by \
semi-officiaI British agency
"All over the world the process
foes on. Responsible newspapers
and news agencies have an obliga
ton to the public to war against it:
and the public owes a debt of graft.
tude to the United Press, the Inter.
national News Service and Mr.. An.
derson for serving it so well in ghis
instance. The position Of the
United Press is significant. Serving
as it does newspapers in thirty-seven
countries, it cannot afford to let
itself be used as 4 cats paw by the
foreign office of any one country
and it is not"
All newspaper men know, although
the public may not, that only in the
United States are there press asso-
Citations not subsidized by the gov
eminent. The Associated Press alone
in this country has news exchange
alliances with the subsidized or semi,
official news agencies of other coun.
tries. The United Press has its owe
organization all over the world
manned by its own correspondents
For years the Associated Press has
been suspected Of being a sort Of
self-elected semi-official agency aping
to some degree it's associates in Eu
ropean countries, and the way il
handled the anti-Mexican propa
ganda for the State Department II n
typical result of such n policy.
Attack by A. p. Papers
This latest bit of propaganda has
not only kicked up a rumpus in Con-
gress, but has aroused newspapers
that are members of the Associated
Press and who received from that
agency Geographic and cable news.
After the expose by the st. Louis
Post Dispatch, an Associated Press
paper. the New York World, another
Associated Press paper. said editor.
ally that Assistant Secretary Odds
prevailed upon the Associated Press
to flood the newspapers of this
country with a mischievous. sensa-
tional and altogether irresponsible
story (for which Mr.. Odds himself adj
mitted privately that he had no
proof to the effect that Mexican
bolshevism was reaching down
through Nicaragua 10 threaten
American defenses Of the Panama
canal. In this case the State De
partment was STOPPING to deception
and intrigue; the Associated Press
was permitting itself to be used as
a semi-oficial news agency. with all
Of the loss of independence and in
tegrity which that policy involves. Z"
The Baltimore Sun, another AS
ISOLATED Press paper said editori
ally:
"To have the State Department
and the heads of press services con-
niving to put out weasel-wprded at
tacks on Mexico based upon moral
certainties is to invite distortion of
news dispatches and the distortion
Of PUBLIC opinion, and to destroy that
direct, precise responsibility which
must be the ultimate safeguard of
accuracy in information given the
people"
AS the only press service that fell
for State Departmental propaganda
was the Associated Press, that is the
one the Sun was criticising. AS the
New York World puts it, 1.-THE AS
ISOLATED Press unfortunately lent It.
self to the State Departments pur-
poses."
Even a thick and thin administra-
ton organ like the New York
Herald-Tribune says: 1.-THE State De-
partment has realized as a result
that it-had considerable lethargy to
contend with in seeking backing for
a strong stand. This has been the
cause for certain inspired news
paper articles as to the danger of
bolshevism in Mexico overfiowing
into Central America"
Pooling the People
In other words, when any govern
mental department wants to fool the
people it's mighty handy to have Q
semi-official propaganda agency with
in call to do the work.
The most reassuring thing in this
entire mess is that there are Honest
newspaper members of the Associ
ated Press who will not stand fol-
the poisoning of news at it's source
Nor will American journalism stand
for any imitation in this country OF
the pernicious policy of European
press agencies taking orders from
political administrations to fool the
people in the interest of secret
diplomacy.
In this connection, The Nation
says: