The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1944-04-21
War News
WASHINGTON POST


Mr. Palmer Hoyt suggests that the Senate set up
committee to investigate the inept and confusing
methods the armed services and of the Government
in handling and releasing news The proposal is
worthy of adoption. If such inquiry conducted
along similar lines and in similar spirit to the in
designations of the Truman Committee there would
be little or no danger that would be turned into
instrument Of politics 1t might also be instrumental
in bringing about those reforms that Mr.. Elmer Davis
has found himself mpotent to establish in the face Of
and Navy and for lack Of support from the White
House Mr.. Hoyt it will be remembered, was for
mery domestic director of the Office of War Informa
tion he is also extremely capable newspaperman.
Thus he may be said to understand both the internal
and external aspects of what it must be admitted is
not easy problem.
There is no doubt however that people at large
are becoming skeptical and dstrustfu of Of
ically released officially censored reports concern
ing the progress of the Major General Surles,
head of the Army public relations service, admitted
as much few days ago in his letter to r A. Roberts
of the Kansas City Star Il can sense, General
Surles "the growing idea that we are endeavoripg
to up mistakes under the guise of military
security, and yet it is difficult to counterfeit this
impression in view of the fact that the problem is
complicated by the need for the theatre commander
to use information psychological weapon against
the enemy and to maintain high morale among
troops who in contact with the enemy He went
to explain in the light of those necessities incidents
like the Patton affair the Barn disaster ana the targc
of the American antiaircraft batteries which
opened fire transport planes laden with American
troops He pointed out that the continual harping
personal of this sort may dispose the COM
manders to caution and timidty rather than to the
necessary boldness and enterprise. For, as General
Sures observes these commanders have vastly greater
responsibilities than any Of their critics.
The last point is well taken. STILL it seems to us
the responsibility of commanders applies also to
the matter of accurate public information For ex
ample, the great of optimism which swept the
country year ago, which justly deplored by the
military, might well have been based statements
intended primarily for troops for enemy consump-
ton. The present of skeptcism and uneasiness
may be the very natural reaction that accepted
at face value had purpose other than that of pure
information.
What the Army and Navy have yet to learn, it
seems to u.s. is that under anything short of tota
tartan system, you canno tpay two conflicting games
of propaganda simultaneously You cannot. for in
stance for of morale strategy, in certain
quarters predict the end of the within II months
and few weeks later seek to counterfeit the effect
of such prediction in other quarters by announcing
that the will go virtually forever. The device
is too transparent. General Surles admits that Mr..
Drew Parsons original story of the Patton incident
struck like bombshe in the theatre where Patton
was commanding And yet the morale here would
to be not what General Surles supposes but the
very opposite Whatever damage may have been
caused by the publication of the story much of it
could have been obviated If the Army itself had only
shown enough boldness and imagination to have al
lowed the correspondents familiar with the crcum-
stances rather than Mr. Pearson to release the story