Evening star., 1939-01-02

FRANK SWOtHcTS, UHO unLu tnc
end OF November 1pas the Rome
correspondent OF the Daily Ne,Us.
Mr.. Smothers' account is being
published in three installmentS,
OF Which this is the frSt.)
BY FRANK SMOTHERS,
Chicago Daily News Foreign Correspondent.
PARIS, Jan. 2.-CensOrShip of
news from Italy is twofold, Benito
Mussolini's government makes every
effort to keep information hidden
save that which answers its pur-
poses or, at worst, does not run
counter to those purposes. And by
efforts of intimidation through re-
peated warnings, in the last analy-
sis by expulsion, it seeks to prevent
foreign correspondents from telling
what is embarrassing to the Duce.
I have watched and experienced
this process from my arrival in Italy
In September, 1887, to my expul-
sion at the end of November, 1898.
My own case is not particularly
novel, Other correspondents have
been expelled before me. Every in
dependent neWspaperman In Rome
Is under constant pressure.
When 1 arrived in Rome found
letter from a friend who few
years before had covered MuSso-
lini's Italy. Now he was covering
Hitler's Germany. I quote from
memory: welcome to the lost con-
tinent." q had come from America
and China) You'll like Rome but
will find it tough. I have never
worked in a capital where news is
at such a premium or where dis
patches so often bring the wrath OF
the authorities"
German News Channels Wider.
What he wrote, I believe, was
wholly true-although he had never
covered Russia; and Stain, one
gathers from ex-Russian correspon-
dents, makes the business OF getting
at facts tougher than Mussolini-a
considerable achievement But cor
respondents who have worked both
Fascist capitals are certain that, for
all Hitlers TRADES against the IN
ternational press. the channels OF
information are much wider in Ger
many than in Italy and that the
Nazis are distinctly less sensitive
about what a correspondent sends
out.
There are explanations for those
facts. Germany is not the one man
show that Italy is. The men around
Hitler are far more important than
the men around Mussolini. and the
designs of government are not the
monopoly of one man to the same
extent as in Palazzo Venezia.
Moreover, the Nazis, nothwith-
standing their dislike OF foreign
criticism, are much more confident
of their strength than are Mus
solini's Fascists. Again, the Ger
mans today know they are getting
somewhere. They know that dis
patches of correspondents record
this clearly enough. They know that
they-the Germans-are feared.
Criticism, and dispatches that cause
criticism, naturally do not cut them
as much as they cut the Fasclsts.
That has been true in the past. 1t
is even truer this year when Fasclsm
has become more Fascist" and
when the results of Mussollnls
foreign adventures, as recorded In
dispatches of objective correspond
ents, have shown so dlsadvanta-
geously from Italy's standpoint as
compared with Hitler's results.
Constant Fishing for News.
AS for a correspondents methods
in gathering news. these are con-
slant fishing expedition. That IS
true in all countries; Italy's dlstlnc-
ton Is that she is at such pains 10
restrict the waters.
The official arm of the govern
ment in dealing with foreign corre-
spondents is the ministry OF popular
culture-more specifically. the for
eign press section of that ministry.
Ministry of popular culture" is
comparatively new name. The Fas-
cists officially used to call it more
frankly the ministry OF press and
propaganda" Some OF us who have
had habitually to deal with 1t have
found its humor so heavy and the
illumination to be obtained there so
scant that my private name for 1t
has long been the ministry OF
sweetness and light"
Once in a while I have been able,
in conferences at the ministry, to
get useful lines on official reactions
to international events. Most trips
to its conference tables brought no
results worth the name-save reve-
lation of the ignorance in which
the press ministry is kept.
The setup is patiently designed to
keep correspondents at arms length,
as general rule, from men who
could answer questions with some
degree of authority. In democratic
lands, including our own, foreign
correspondents can call freely at
the foreign Offices At Washington,
for example, Secretary Hull has fire.
quent press conferences An official
Of the State Department helps cor
respondents make contacts with
specialists in the department. Pres
ident Roosevelt has his own press
conferences.
Not so in Italy. Individual corre-
spondents upon occasion can make
appointments with foreign office
officials, including the foreign min
lister, Count GaleaZzo Ciano. But
for all save distinct minority such
appointments are rare.
Must Read Papers Daily.
Despite this, correspondent gets
news.
The first step each day is reading
the newspapers. These tell only
what the government wants told.
They tell it with shamefaced con-
tortions of fact. They bore all cor
respondents to distraction, as well
as many of their readers; by COL
umns of oratorical nonsense about
tho omnipotence Of Fascism, the