The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-09-22
Congress News Vote
Coonslnued from Page D

" PaeVeSVSN " aAVVAaASVa"AaNe SSae pact"
 The American Newspaper Pub fishers Association, the American Society Of Newspaper Editors, the ., D., A, P. and l, N, G., and others directly concerned In Journalism participated in the .reooEnTaendas tlons and discussions which led, ul. tlnately, to congressional action,
 Hugh Baillie, president of tho United Press, is now In Europe diss eussing agreements for free aoeeSe to news with representatives of various United Nations govern. ments. AS congress was acting yeBs terdAy 0 dispatch from Paris report- cd that Henri Tietgen, French mine ister of information, had assured Baillie that his country would wei. come American, British and other news agencies which may desire to distribute news to the French press and to gather news within France on on equal bAsis with Agenee Wraneaise, the newly organized French news agency,
 Assurances Obtained
 Baillie already had obtained spec elfio assurances from tho repreSeiit- atiVes of Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and CEeehoslovakiA. Editor and Publisher last week reported that the French reacted to repre-. sentatlonS from Baillie and other sources by lifting In liberated France the Aleiers ordnance and decree which set up Q monopoly for the new French national news agency, Agenee Traneaiso,"
 The significance of these agree- lnents and the formal commitment now made by congress in behalf of free and open news channels was emphasized by Baillie in on address over the American BroAdeaStlng System in Europe on September i4, In Q broadcast beamed to oil of the continent, Baillie told the still.eap. tive peoples that the surest guAran. tee of liberty is the complete free. dom Of the press In gathering and distributing neWs-true news not distorted by propaganda.
 There have been in the past and there arc now prevailing diserinin. atory practices which hinder Amer. lean news agencies in their efforts to obtain and to distribute news, These obstacles sometimes are In the form of direct subsidles-.-A not. able pre-War device in Franco--or In the form of international cable or wireless rates, Q device favored by the British.
 Discrimination
 Discrimination at tho source of the news can be effected by e govs ernnent authorizing It's subsidized or controlled news agency to become tho channel through which all others must obtain ofileial news,
 The congressional resolution. broad as its language may seem to pc, proposes no more than that other nations adopt the free and open news methods that long have prevailed In the United States, where, to the very moment the jNp- NneSo hit Pearl Harbor, Japanese news correspondents were on an equal footing here with Americans to obtain official news and to diss patch 1t anywhere in the world,
 The resolution was proposed by OhaTman Tom ConnNliy, D., Tex, | of the Senate Foreign Relations | Committee The final draft was based on resolutions previously | oHered by Connally and Senator | Robert A, Taft, R.. O., Senator Ar. | thur II. Vandenksrg, R., Mich, and | Senator Alben W. Barkley, D, Ky, | drafted the language ultimately | agreed upon.
 Although non discriminatory rRteS and charges are of considerable fl. anelal importance, the hub of proposition was the commitment lo discriminatory access to news sources.
 Telegrams
 Karl A. Bickel, a press association veteran of the battle for non. .dis. efiminatory news rights and hin- self a former president of the United Press reminded subcommittee members and toher interested sena- tors iA teiegrams which he sent them this week oft he significance or equal access to sources. His telo. grams said in part;
 ' hope I can point out one or two salient facts. Between 1896 and 1883 there was bitter and un. relenting effort made by the SO. called official group of press as. soeiations consisting of Reuters tBritish); Havas (Freneh); Woil and later DNB tGerman); Stefani Qtalian); Rengo (Japanese) Asso. ciated Press (American); and for few years, TaSs (Russian) to con. trol world news through exclusive monopoly agreements whereby every effort was to prevent any agency not aligned with the so-called 'of- iicial' group from obtaining on terms of equality government news of the nations mentioned in the nations mentioned in the foregoing or any news collected or handled by any news agencies or newspapers or government bureau under the control or subject to the influence cf these agencies.
 Less Possible Here
 "Of course in the United States this was not possible to any grea. degree. It was. however, of con- siderable importance in England, and in France, Germany and Italy. For many years 1t was a very dif- ficult obstacle to the development of the foreign service of the United Press.
 '"The one certain way to kill that system forever, is to have the United States stand for absolute n-discriminatory, non-monopolis- tic control over governmental news at its source as has always been the American practice and tradition. Obviously the United States cannot go into a country and invade man. agement of its internal affairs to dictate what shall or shall not be salAaNAA afa aan