The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1938-05-12
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National Topics Interpreted - G1[T@9
by William Bruckart MTTITX
National washing

morning, one managing editor chal-
lenged his colleagues with the ques-
ton: care we mice or are we
men?"
Again asserting my inability to
vouch for all of the statements that
have deluged Washington since the
meeting, I know that many of the
editors were cred headed" or shot
under the collar" or whatever your
favorite expression may be. And
well they may have been if it is
true that the President told them
they had no genuine knowledge Of
public sentiment in their several
communities, nor did they have any
real influence. But the GROWING
shot, according to report, was a
pointed inference that the President
better understood what the country
needed than the editors.
Immediately thereafter the Amer
lean Newspaper Publishers associa-
ton, at its New York meeting, had
before it a report calling for the
elimination of politics and politi-
clans from control of the radio or
the press. The report cited Mr..
Roosevelt's frequent use of the air.
lanes for his "freside chats" and it
added:
"The inescapable task Of the
American press is to guard against
any encroachment upon American
democracy by the federal govern
ment with radio as the instrument
of political power"
That incident, of course, was not
ignored in Washington. While there
49,. was no word from
Mtnton the White House,
Lets Loose the newspapers
were the target
for an Incorporate speech by Sen.
Sherman Minton of Indiana. Senator
Minton has been New Deal mouth
piece through the last year and only
a few persons believed that he was
speaking his own views. Most OBJ
servers thought he was doing a
Charley Mccarthy" for those in
the New Deal who needed a ventrilo-
quist and forum then and there
to get their views printed.
Mr.. Minton jumped all over the
newspapers. None of them would
print the New Deal side, he assert
ed; none would be fair. They SIM
ply are awful things, these news
papers. The report of the news
paper publishers, mentioned above,
was described by the senator as
IAN exhibition of unmitigated gall"
Some newspapers were accused Of
"spewing out their propaganda"
against the New Deal and he
charged that the New Deal Simply
can not get it's side of the story
printed"
The senator certainly got his side
of the case printed for the metropol-
itan dailies reaching Washington
gave him vast space-and also they
subsequently gave him editorial at
tention. Senators on the floor lis
tened to Senator Minton, too, but
only Senator Norris of Nebraska and
Schwellenbach of Washington took
any notice. Senator Schwellenbach
felt impelled to make a few we'll
chosen remarks about the way the
press has treated the New Dealers,
including himself.
And, l almost forgot about it! Sen
ator Minton introduced bill that
would send an editor or reporter to
Jail if they printed any information
which they knew to be incorrect.
The guilty persons could be fined
many thousands of dollars, too, I'M
der the Minton bill. I guess the rea-
son I almost forgot about the Minton
bill to punish editors was because
nobody took it seriously, least of all
the colleagues of Senator Minton in
the senate. 1t will go into COM
mittee pigeonhole and will never be
heard of again.
Involvement of radio and its con-
troll by the federal government in
>, the freedom of
Irked by speech" battle
Radio Policy calls to mind that
there has been
much complaint lately concerning
the federal communications COM
mission. That agency has supreme
authority over the radio stations of
the country. They cannot operate
without a license. The law which
set up the commission gave author
ity to license stations for three
years, but as matter of practice
the commission never has issued a
license to any station for a period
longer than six months. In conse-
quence, every station owner and OPP
orator has to come into the COM
mission twice year and file an
application for renewal of its right
to operate.
The complaint is that the broad
casting industry is running on a six
months basis, uncertain at all times
about its future status. Twice a
year, therefore, any station owner
has to make a guess whether his
investment is worth anything. One
of the charges against this practice,
a charge hurled by David Sarnoff,
president of the Radio Corporation
of America, was that the short-pe-
riod licensing practice 'leaves the
door open for indirect and insidious
censorship" The charge, of course,
considers the possibilities of under
handed activity that always are
available to an individual in public
office.
g Western Newspaper Union.