Evening star., 1943-12-03
Tempest Over Censorship

~ ID w Nc uOuUIeQ whether Jle
general reading public is greatly
concerned about who scooped whom
with the news of the Cairo confer
ence. But large section of the
Journalistic world is upset and
everybody seems to be unhappy,
blaming everybody else.
On the surface, at least, the COM
plant stems from the fact that the
Reuters correspondent in Lisbon
sent a dispatch on Tuesday telling
about the Cairo conference, which
reached the United States about the
time American newspapers were re-
ceiving the official announcement of
the Cairo conference, to be held
strictly for release until 7:30 o'clock
Wednesday evening. AS far as
known, the American newspapers,
with one exception, scrupulously
respected the release date for the
official announcement while printing
with high glee the story from Lisbon.
For, under our own very sensible
censorship regulations, story
emanating from foreign capital is
printable here.
British newspapers, however, were
not permitted to print the Lisbon
dispatch (although the BIC seems
to have broadcast it, as they were
under direction from the British
Ministry of Information not to men,
ton the Cairo conference until Off
cially authorized. These papers are
now damning the British Ministry
OF Information because they got
scooped by the American press,
through courtesy of British Reuter-.
Our own OWL this being free fight,
has protested to Reuter- about
breaking a release date and Reuter-
has replied that its scoop was jour-
nalistic enterprise. Brendan Bracken,
the British Information Minister. is
aSsailed because BIC had to remain
silent while radio stations over the
world were talking about the Cairo
conference and the newspapers are
jumping on Mr.. Bracken because
BIC broadcast the Lisbon story
which they were not allowed to
print. 1t Is all very confusing.
But it is probable that the real
cause OF this unhappiness is a feeling
that censorship is being used for
purposes other than national secu-
rity-the only legitimate justifica-
ton for censorship in free country.
There was voluntary censorship, so
called, on the Cairo conference al
though the Axis countries obviously
knew when and where it was going
on. The censorship was imposed,
not merely for security reasons, but
to permit absolute control of the
news through official sources, to be
released when somebody in author
ity decided it should be released
and released from the White House.
That sort Of thing breeds anxiety
and resentment in newspaper Offices
and the turmoil about the Lisbon
story Is a convenient outlet.
One American newspaper, the
Bayonne IN. j. Times, deliberately
violated the release date on the Off
cial announcement and printed it in
advance, declaring rather pugna-
ciously that it acted on "a conviction
that the people of the United States
are entitled to news as well as any
other country in the world" The
wisdom OF its zeal, however, is ques-
tionable. Granting, as one must,
that some censorship is a wartime
necessity and that somebody must
make the rules, the only substitute
for the existing voluntary" censor
ship is one enforced by fear Of heavy
penalty. Our own newspaper CEN
sorship is working relatively we'll
now because the newspapers police
Themselves. II they break ranks,
everybody will suffer. >~-