Evening star., 1943-10-10
Scoops in Churchill Talks
May Liberalize Censorship Here
By Raymond p. Brandt.

their own decisions. In this country. the
civilian officials, including the President,
generally agree with the decisions of the
military minds as to what information
will aid the enemy There is some doubt
whether some of the higher officials even
of cabinet rank, are kept fully informed
by the generals and admirals.
Criticism Is Answered.
A few critics of the American system
of information have charged that Cd
President Roosevelt does not believe in
the democratic processes; (2) that he
has permitted war news to be juggled
to fit other news and political develop
ments, and 90 that he has not used
his presidential authority over the mill
tary minds to see that the public gets
all the information to which 1t Is en-
titled.
There is very little evidence to sub
stantiate points l and 2, and more evi-
dence that he and his advisers are
making some progress on point with
the military minds
One writer in the Editor and Publisher
symposium argued that Elmer Davis
should insist on the rights of Owl, and
should he fail. bring the issue of military
censorship officially into the open by
resigning. Davis resignation, with what
ever verbal blast he saw fit to accom-
pany 1t, would not solve the problem.
The next step would be to find a COM
petent man to succeed him in the Job
where there are 100 brickbats to one
bouquet.
Two more practicable remedies are
available. The first is that President
Roosevelt and the higher civilian OH
cials. particularly in the War and Navy
Departments. could make their own de-
cisions as to what information the
public is entitled to have, taking into
account the caution of the military
minds regarding security" The other
is the appointment of civilian officials,
possibly with the ranks of Assistant Sec
retary of the Navy and Assistant Secre-
tary of War, to handle the public rela-
tons of these two departments. On this
point, it may be recalled that Brendan
Bracken has British cabinet rank. These
two civilians-they we'll might be news
paper publishers or editors-could attend
all important departmental conferences
and note what information they thought
the public should have. If the military
officers argued that publication of this
information would aid the enemy, the
burden of proof would be on the military,
with the possibility that the military
decision would be overruled by the
civilian authorities, as Prime Minister
Churchill makes his own decisions on
such questions
Must Yield to Superiors.
AS the situation is today the public
relations of the two departments are
in the hands of two career officers, Mai.
Gen. Alexander D. Surles for the Army
and Capt. Leland P. Lovette for the
Navy. These men cooperate with Elmer
Davis and his civilian liaison officials.
Surles and Lovette are competent within
the limits of their authority, but like
all career officers they must show the
customary Difference to their official
superlors. If these superiors veto pro-
posal the officially subordinates can ex-
press their own views aggressively only
up TO a certain point
1t has been said that the executive
order creating the Owl gave Elmer
Davis adequate authority to compel the