The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1936-09-15
LIBERTY, LAWS DIGNITY ARE NOT
INCOMPATIBLE
(By BRUCE CATION

The line between nOerIy anu hC1if0N 49,
he an almighty hard one to draw Inc
American solution usually is to allow d
good deal of leeway on the side OF license
50 as to make sure that liberty is not IN
fringed; if somebody abuses the privilege
that's just too bad.
But it isn't entirely impossible to ORA"
the line, even when such an extremely III
portant abstraction as the freedom OF the
press is involved; and it wouldn't hurt
either the press or the bar of the united
States to give a little sober attention 10
some remarks on court procedure recently
made by Chief Justice William M. Maltole
of the Connecticut supreme court.
Justice Maltbie proposed that the courts
draw up rules to govern press coVerage OF
trials so as to avoid such three-ring-clrcus
affairs as the Hauptmann trial.
With the rules which he proposes
great many newspaper editors will doubt
less quarrel. Steering away from license
the Justice may have tendency to cut INTO
liberty bit. But with the general IDEA
that press and bar can and should head on
repetitions of such affairs as the Haupt-
mann trial. there can be little dissent
Justice Maltbie urges that the only re-
porters admitted to a courtroom be those
from the state and city directly involved
and from the great press associations. he
would prohibit all picture-making IN court
and ban all movie and radio equipment
He would have the. trial judge exercise
supervision over the giving out by court
stenographers of transcripts of the evil
dence.
Now the point to bear in mind, in any
such proposal to reduce the hippodrome
aspects of a sensational trial, is that one
right is paramount-the right of the pub
lie at large to know precisely what goes on
in its courtrooms 1t is of the highest i'm
portance that the wartime trial OF Eu'
gene Debs, for instance, be given the full
est kind of coverage. Once set limit or
the right of the press to tell what happens
in court, and you provide an entering
wedge for star-chamber sessions, Judlcla
tyranny, and the very negation of democ
racy.
No set of regulations, then, can be ap
proved by the American press If 1t IN an!
way cuts off from the people full ant
untrammeled knowledge of the facts.
Beyond that, however, there is a goot
deal that can be said for the justice
ideas.
Sensation-mongering is not an integra
part of the essential reporting of the news
No Judge need turn his courtroom over t
the tablaids. The photographer need no
exactly perch on the rail of the jury box
The radio and the movie, certainly, ca
properly remain outside the door
For a criminal courtroom needs dlgnt
and decorum, if for no other reason tina
that it is the arena for a supposedly pas
sionless and unbiased search for facts In
rights of the man on trial and of the sc
eiety which is trying him must be pre-
served. They are apt to get lost IN tn
shuttle, in trial such as that OF Haup'
mann.
1t is possible to improve our coVerage o
the courts without sacrificing any essentla
part of press freedom. Justice Matble a
least offers a stimulating approach to tn
problem.
Before the 10Th century. tomatoes Wer