Evening star., 1937-01-23
PRESS CENSORSHIP
CHARGED BY A. P.
News Association Files Brief
In Fighting Labor Board
Ruling.
~ the Associated Press.

Independence of the American press
and the maintenance of an unbiased
news report for readers OF American
newspapers woAld be destroyed should
the United States Supreme Court de-
eide the national labor relations act
Is constitutional, 1t was asserted in
brief filed with the court yesterday
by counsel for the Associated Press.
The brief contened that the ASso-
eiated Press could not freely or i'm
partially perform the functions dele
rated to 1t by its 1900 newspaper
members If the selection of Associated
Press news writer's became subject to
supervision of a Government board.
Such a regulatory control would be
established, it was stated, If the Su-
preme Court granted the petition Of
the N. L. r. B. to enforce its order
requiring the Associated Press to re-
employ Morris Watson, discharged
news employe OF the New York office.
Argument Slated February 8.
Argument on the case, appealed from
4 decision OF the Second Circuit Court
Of Appeals. has been scheduled for
the week of February 8.
"Impartiality and freedom from any
bias is the fundamental aim of the
Associated Press" said the brief, land
largely through its efforts this also Is
the aim of the American press at large.
Freedom of the press and freedom of
ho from
censorship by government; 1t means
that freedom Of expression must be
jealousy protected from any form Of
governmental control or influence.
ITO name the men who shall choose
and write the news for publication is
no different either in principle or in
result from naming what shall be
written or published. Here the author
and the product are one and insepara-
bic. II one is to be free, so must the
other"
Interference Deplored.
'How can accuracy and independ-
ence survive an attempt by the Gov
eminent to impose upon the ASso.
ciated Press a requirement that its
news employees be union men?" the
brief continued. Interference with
the internal management of any pri-
Vate concern is inconsistent with due
process OF law. Where, however, the
private concern is not dealing in
ordinary commercial commodities but
is engaged exclusively in the formu-
Iation and dissemination Of news for
the press. such interference is still
more intolerable in that it constitutes
an encroachment upon the manage
ment and the policy of the press it
self.
whenever a union editorial en-
ploye Of the Associated Press is dis
charged, a case Is at once made for
the board by the claim, rightly or not,
that membership in labor organiza-
ton has been discouraged or that the
employe has been Disseminated
against. The question of editorial per-
sonnel then becomes a question for
the board to determine and the man
agement Of the editorial affairs Of this
great news service Of the American
press Is displaced by the board which
Congress has created"
Charges Rights Usurped.
The brief declared the authority
claimed by the board under the act
was non-existent under the following
general constitutional clauses:
The act violates the first amend
faent, which guarantees to citizens
freedom Of speech and freedom Of the
press; that it was an unrestricted
attempt to regulated the relation
ship between all industrial employers
and employees by imposing "collec-
tive bargaining" upon them, in viola
ton Of the tenth amendment; that
its terms are arbitrary. unreasonable
and capricious, having no real and
substantial relkion to the accom-
plishmets Of legitimate ends. in vio-
lation Of the fifth amendment; that it
denies the right to trial by jury in
violation Of the seventh amendment;
and that the relation between the As
sociated Press and its editorial en-
ployes is not interstate commerce,
does not directly affect such COM
merce and Is not subject to Federal
control.