Evening star., 1941-05-04

that freedom of the press cannot
exist unless one national magazine
is allowed to sell advertising in the
columns of another"
THE commission in its report and
proposed actions persistently ignores
the evidence" he continued. TT
disregards the remarkable progress
of radio, the absence of substantial
complaint, and it insists upon con-.
sidering the whole question OF
monopoly without giving the slight
est weight to the fact that the net
works and the stations of America
are publicly committed to a policy
of freedom and fairness of the air,
devoid of any editorial bias whatso-
ever"
Declaring that he did not believe
"either the President or the Con-
gress will countenance what the
commission seeks to do" Mr.. Paley
said that a few weeks ago President
Roosevelt appointed Mark Ethridge
Of the Louisville Courier-Journal to
make a study of the broadcasting
field.
Door Opened to New Networks.
Hardly was Mr.. Ethridge en-
barked upon his presidential mis-
sion," Mr.. Paley said, when the
commission launches report backed
up by regulations calculated to tor
pedo the existing broadcasting struc-
ture and apparently defiant of the
orderly process proposed by the
President and defiant as well of the
very limited powers conferred upon
the commission by the Congress"
The F. C. C. majority report con-
tended that the regulations are de-
signed not merely to introduce COM
petition among existing networks,
but also to open the door to new
networks. 1t pointed out that sta
tions utilizing roughly 81 per cent
of the Nations total nighttime
broadcasting power are affiliated
with the three major networks. 1t
said that in avoiding the concentra-
tlon OF power over radio broadcast
ing in the hands of government,
we must not fall into an even more
dangerous pitfall, the concentration
of that power in the hands of self
perpetuating management groups" |"
The licensing of two stations in the
same area to a single network Or
ganization was held to be basically
unsound and contrary to the public
interest.
Commissioners Dissent.
On the other hand, the dissenting
commissioners pointed out that if
some form of monopoly exists in
radio broadcasting, which is con-
trary to the best interests of the
public, it should be remembered that
the commission has licensed all
broadcasting stations in the United
States after finding time and time
again that each of the licensees
was operating his station in the
public interest.
While Commissioners Case and
Craven said the commission should
encourage the organization of in
dependent, highly competitive ma
tional networks, nevertheless, they
added that if there are limitations
or barriers to the establishment of
these additional competitors, the
commission need not and should not
promulgate rules the effect of which
would destroy all existing systems,
merely to provide some other private
enterprise with an opportunity to
capture the revenues of broadcast
ing.
Operation of the Red and Blue
networks by N. B. c., the majority
said, gives it decided advantage
over the other two networks. 1t
is not in public interest for a sta
tlon to enter into regular afilia-
ton contract with networks or
ganization maintaining more than
one network"
Jurisdiction Denied.
The dissenting commissioners ss-
serted that the F. c. c. is without
jurisdiction to promulgate regula-
tions which undertake to control in
directly the business arrangement
of broadcasting licensees. They said
further that there is no support ir
the record of the monopoly proceed.
ings or otherwise in the possession
OF the body which would require new