The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-03-07
THE WRECKED PRESS OF BOSS
=, - RIDDEN COUNTRIES

The Asheville Citizen says The German
press is a wreck" and offers this summary
of conditions in the newspaper business IN
that country:
How many newspapers there were in Germany
before Hitler came into power we do not Kno"
but the Associated Press reports that the mortality
during the past year has been terr3hc. Some oV'
daily papers ceased to exist and thousands OF edl-
tors writers, printers and newsbOys nave oeen
thrown out of employment. ..
'"In Germany every important political group mad
it, own newspaper organ in every community of
any size Parties were abolished by the Nazis,
with the exception of their own party, and by one
means or another the newspapers have all been
nut out of business or taken over by the ruling
regime. The Ullsteins and the Moses, whose pub
fishing houses were among the largest in the
world have been put completely out of the picture
i"Among German newspaper men the belief eX-
i4ed few years ago that the freedom of the press
had been buttressed in the Fatherland so that 1t
wbuld be almost impossible to shake it. But the
first thing that happens under dictatorship is the
abolition of a free press. Mussoni could not have
established himself in Italy as he did if ne had not
struck down those newspapers which were not
ready to support him completely. Hitler would
have failed of his purpose if ne had spared the
German press. .. j
i''Neyspapers in Germany today print what the
government tells them to print and leave out what
the government tells them to leave out. Hitler him.
sdlf is quoted as saying that the dailies now are
enough to make anybody sick" Their sales are
reported to have fallen off to fraction Of what
they used to be- News dealers tell the eorreSpoon7
dent of the Associated Press that their customers
will not buy them because they print only govern
nient newsstand we get that on the radio.
The newspapers in Germany are wrecked
and the same is true of the newspapers IN
naly and Russia and all other boss-rldden
or dietator-eontrolied countries. Dlctators
and a free press cannot get along IN the
same esuptry. The matter OF vital concern
to the speople, however, is the fact that
flee speech for the individual always goes
down with the suppression of free press,
No doubt there are many people in thl
couRtsy have been little concerned
about the free press issue. They have not
gives Serious thought to it, thinking 1t is
something that concerns the newspapers
alone in fact, believing that freedom of
theapfesS covers special privileges granted
the newspapers and that the press might
be deprived of this right without danger
to other. classes and the fundamental rights
of the, people. No graYer mistake could be
made.tt%s
In Germany, Italy and Russia, for exam
pie, where the freedom of the press has
beensi abrogated, where the newspaper
business as business has been wrecked,
where the few surviving newspapers print
onlN.what the dictators permit them to
print, the freedom of the people was de-
stroyed with the freedom of the press. In
those. c6hntries the newspapers print only
what the dictators say shall be printed and
the people speak only what the dictators
permit them to speak The dictators con-
troll in a large measure the thinking of the
people, because the government-controllee
newspapers are used as propaganda mills
to shape the very thoughts of the people
but those intelligent and independent citi
zens who have the capacity to think foi
themselves, and who may do so in spit
of dictator control of all sources of infor
nation, dare not speak their thoughts. ]!
these countries no person is allowed t.
critieise the government or voice any opin
ions contrary to the views of the dictators
Freedom of speech and freedom of tn
press are linkedtegether. They stand Q
fall together. IF freedom of the press
Ss'z71N ~ 5s'7 $500