The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1933-09-26
DID NEWSPAPERS AVERT DICTATOR
SHIP IN THIS COUNTRY?


The question which is the caption of this
editorial is being more or less freely dis
cussed throughout the country. NewsdOm,
a weekly paper of New York City, in its
leading front page article in the latest
number, says:
The battle of the press to maintain its
constitutional freedom under the NRA was
the main force in averting a dictatorship
under the Roosevelt administration. That
is the opinion of Dean Carl w. Alderman
of the Columbia University School of Jour-
naliSm."
Discussing the annual report of Dean
Alderman made to President Nicholas
Murray Butler of the University, Editor
and Publisher says:
THE united front of newspaper publish
ers in their demand that the press be free.
as provided for in the first amendment to
the Constitution, was responsible for the
elimination of the licensing clause in the
newspaper code temporarily sanctioned by
NRA officials"
Editor and Publisher quotes these para
graphs from the Alderman document:
With the Roosevelt administration in a position
20 control the radio; with almost equal power
over the motion pictures and with public emotion
stimulated to such tense state that public meet
ings must of necessity reflect the spirit we'll as
the letter of inspired governmental propaganda, the
only possibility of the United States escaping a
dictatorship was inherent in the fight of the pro-
fession of journalism for public recognition of the
freedom of the press.
Only those in the confidence of General john
son know what might have been the next moves
of the administration if the NRA had succeeded in
its original policy of forcing the press to accept a
license. General Johnson, however, soon revealed
at least a segment of mis- intentions. He requested
newspaper publishers to print ful-page advertise
ments, free of charge, telling employers how to
the Blue Eagle
Times have changed General Johnson assert
ed at the Century of Progress meeting in Chicago
The radio and moving pictures have enabled the
people to know instantly what is going on and more
nearly every year to think and act as one This
is the third time according to Editor & Publisher
since the freedom of the press became an issue
under the NRA, that General Johnson has empha
sized the Importance of the radio and motion pic.
lures to the solution of national economic prob
lehiS. Inns raises an important question IN regard
to the formation of public opinion.
Public opinion, like confidence is a plant Of
slow growth The radio, motion pictures news
papers, magazines, books, letters, conversation
words and actions all combine to create public
sentiment Public opinion is the crystallizaton OF
reflection which results from conflict of opinion
not from hypodermic injections of emotional stimu
lants in the body polite. The press is unquestion
ably an important factor in the reflective processes
Of the people because by publishing all sides o.
public questions it is contributing to the deveop
ment OF individual analysis and criticism This i
not applicable to the radio in its present state o.
development. The radio has magnifed the powe
Oh the orator which has been potential danger l.
democracy throughout our history 1t has not in
creased the power of individual reflection 10 III
same degree.
In the evolution of public opinion there come
time when mass action must be sustained an,
supported by the convictions of that intellectual
and responsible minority which thinks before
turns from leader to leader or jumps from cause l.
cause. without unity between mass emotion an
the confidence of this minority. it is doubtfu
whether public opinion will CONCEAL sufficiently r.
sustain the MIA movement. And it is continuit
Oh action rather than mpulsive action that is vita
to Industrial recovery"
"A press which is Free Mr. Alderman concIrd
ed, simply because the constitution guarantee
That liberty, but is timid when waves of pnbr
emotion sweep the land or when the publicatio
OF governmental propaganda is made patriot