The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-12-21

NOME The uSual
sadder and wiser man. He came
to Washington full of beans. He
saw his job at owl as one of get
ting out the war news, and he
didn't think the war news was get
ting out. He intended to stay only
! three months, in which he would
reorganize the bureau, then get out
himself. He stayed six, and things
aren't all hunky dory yet, though
Mr.. Hoyt admits freely that things
are now better tina nthey were.
Some of the battles which owl
goes through, internally and with
other government agencies, in just
trying to get out the news, are
really pretty disastrous.
NAVY, ARMY NEWS
Six months or a year ago, it was
the Navy that was holding onto all
its news with death grip, for fear
someone would find out about what
was going on. Today the Navy is
apparently trying to let go of stuff
while it's hot. as witness the record
on Tarawa, in getting the story
within "a hours after it happened.
On the other hand, it's the Army
that now boards news like an old
hen with an urge to set. The walls
of the Washington press corps COW
ering the War Department get
louder every day. Holding up for
two weeks on news of the German
sneak bombing raid against the
Italian port of Bari is case in
point. This disaster, as bad as a
second Pearl Harbor except for the
fact that freighters instead of bat
tleshipS were hit, was a greater blow
to the British than it was to the
Americans and terrible reflection
on the British lack of nati-aircraft
defense at an important port. It
was all under General Eisenhower's
top command, however, and the
War Departments apparent effort
to minimize the news by burying it
IN the middle of Secretary Slim
sons otherwise dull war summary
two weeks after it happened, is a
sad reflection on bad news policy.
While owl does not deserve all
the credit for speeding up the
Nays release of its war news, it
does not deserve all the blame for
the Army'S current SlowneSS. The
Bari story was forced into the open
as result of owl prodding. AS a
matter of fact, OWL seems to have
let the story leak to make sure that
it would get out.
Trying to get Army and Navy to
release news faster broke one owl
deputy, Nicholas Roosevelt of the
Oyster Bay branch of the family.
George H. Lyon, former New York
and Bufflao newspaper editor, has
the job now. He is entitled to at
least some of the credit for what
ever improvement, if any, has been
made in the release of war news in
the last few months. But in this
effort to get out more news for the
domestic press. Lyon has had the
full backing of Owl Director Elmer
Davis and Palmer Hoyt.
LET'S HAVE THE
UNFAVORABLE
The fiasco over the Bari story,
the bad release on the General Pat
ton incident, and the beautiful ball
up over the release of the Presi-
dents Cairo and Teheran confer
enceS indicate how much room there
is for still further improvement.
What 1t really seems to take to get
the unfavorable news pried out of
the War and Navy departments is
a good Congressional investigation,
such as the Truman committee con-
Quoted on the Army's Canol oil
project In Canada, and the House
Naval Affairs Committee conducted
on the Nays Brewster Aircraft
mess.
But this very difficulty. accord
ing to Palmer Hoyt, is what makes
necessary some kind of an inside
government agency, run by civilians
to keep after the news.
Whether or not owl stands be-
tween the reporters and the news is
a debatable question. Certainly
Army and Navy public relations de-
partments stand between the re-
porterS and the direct news sources.
The reason given for this interefer-
ence Is the need for maintaining
secrecy and protecting military
security. with which there can be
no argument. The need for some.
thing like owl in such a situation
is to keep prodding the old hens off
the nest eggs of news before those
eggs all turn rotten.