The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-06-13
World Free Pre,.
Held Difficult

committee of American 1a A
lists who Travelled around the p,orf,
m the interest Of free flowjng ~ nonl
reported today they found news r.T
press freedom under vartino .'1s
ditions. 'l''e con-
They said they got many nlod,
OF postwar cooperation fror, se'
eign government leaders bm W. 'of'
scribed some of those pledges u :.
Zip service" {"
1T was evident" the groun s.;s
'that many governments wero e
trolling the press politically nn s9..'
the guise of war securitvr Ne'
The directors of the An.r;.
Society of Newspaper Fditos aa
which sponsored the mission IVY
public the 50,0oo-word reDort ~ 'a 4
three-Wilbur Forrest. assis+s III.
editor of the New York Hera,a '
Tribune and ASNE vice presidsr.,
Ralph McGill, editor OF the Ala,
Constitution, and Dean Carl " Az.
herman OF the Columbia Universi,v
Graduate School of Journalism
The main objective of the cor,
mittee on their 10000 mile Trim w..
to have included in forthcornin,
peace treaties the pledges of eor
ernments not to censor news =,
the source, not to use the press =,
an instrument of national policv.
and to permit free flow of news
in and out of signatory countries"
The committee, of which Forrest
was chairman, reported if die.
covered in editors of most countries
visited real desire for more free.
dom of the press than they hereto
fore have enjoyed
perhaps the seeds sown by your
committee will grow and flourish"
the report concluded.
The ASNE directors, who APPROX.
ed the report today, adopted a re.
solution supporting proposal for
a world press freedom conference,
to be held in Australia when con.
ditions permit
A highlight of the newsmen's
journey was their visit to Moscow,
where they had a frank exchange
of views with top Soviet editors and
government press and information
officials. An ASNE summary Of
the report said they got from the
vice commissar of foreign affairs
IAN expression of willingness to
seek a common ground in the mat.
ter of freer exchange of news and
more fair and adequate mutual
writing and reporting"
But the Americans said the Rus.
sian editors contended their govern.
ment directed newspapers, rather
than the private publications in this
country, are the real free press.
The report described banquet
at the United States Embassy at
which the Soviet news chiefs wei
coined the visitors and exchanged
with the Americans candid views
of their respective news and intor-
nation detectives.
Ambassador AvereN Hartman
said the report, described the Unit
ed Stated emergence from its own
provincial and isolationist news
paper era and urged both nations
editors not to take everything in
print too seriously"
Editors P. w Pospelov Of
Pravda, organ of the Supreme
Council of Sovias, and L. F. llyi.
chew of Izvestia. paper OF the com
munist party, asserted Sin almost
identical speeches their system was
most representative of the wishes
of the people and was a free
press because it represented only
the people.
"They insisted that American
papers did not always represent
the wishes of the people, using the
Roosevelt elections and opposition
to many Roosevelt policies which
had been adopted by the people
as examples.
They also said that many Of
the critical items about the 80
viets in the American press were
revealed to be untrue, but the pan
ers which had carried them prom
inently never took the trouble 10
admit the untruths when revealed
Their own articles, they saio'
were tested for truth and accuracy
and always represented the VIII CT
the people
In discussing the sources OF IN
formation about the United STATES
available to the Soviets, the report
commented: ,oooo
"Tass brings in about l5'Oov
words per day from America, ous
it is screened politically aud ooe'
not give any real picture 81 amer
ca. In fact, one of the chie1 CON-
plants we found from our diplo
mats and information officers was
that our own news services, Sucn
as APP, UP and ms, were ooLnS
the same thing, sending out lIeHs
they thought would be used anu
displayed, in an effort to build "
their services without regard sc