The Wilmington morning star., 1946-08-13
Fair Enough
Bv PEGLER

welcome proVocat1on to seu-pra1se by an III
~stitution that is rarely moved to answer at
lacks or acknowledge compliments.
The press in the United States is the best in
the world. It prints news, of course, but, be-
You'd, that, in return for the rights and privi-
leges which it enjoys. it has sought out and
CO rected evils in a career of crusades dating
back to revolutionary Gays. In this phase, 1t
has been a combination Of the FBI since long
before the existence Of that bureau and a
prosecuting arm of local, state and national
governments.
These services have included fierce cam
paigns against the Ku klux Klan II, of the
twenties, in which Individual editors and re-
porters knowingly invited assault by night and
owners took b%oycotts; fights On communism IN
the national government and in the dominant
party under Franklin Roosevelt; fights against
the court-packng plan: exposes of enormous
corruption by arrogant combinations OF rail-
road promoters and crooked financiers and lit
orally hundreds of long and desperate braWls
with rotten political machines in practically
all our major cities and most of the states.
The standard, commercial daily American
press which, SO Molotov says, "is controlled
by two or three bosses, has defied the box-of-
flee pressude of advertisers and bankers and
the inciteo hoWls Of emotional mobs in a long
life of public service, the benefits OF which
are unreasonable because we can't know what
evils WOuiQ nave tOQdy " " zig Z
forms this wrought.
The Russians obviously are embarrassed
before the free element of the world for other
wise Molotov would have continued to ignore
criticisms of the Russian press system which
have pointed out a fatal defect of communism
and Nazism. alike, tor many years. His de-
tense is a counteratack. easily frustrated,
which will fail to divert attention from the
fact that Ehrenberg, for example, would be
shot for finding fault with Stain, Molotov or
the Red dictatorship.
The irritation became painful to the Rus
SLAMS when the Americans insisted on the same
freedom for American reporters to travel and
observe in Russia and to report honestly
what they learned, that communists common
ly enjoy IN the United States. And it was I'M
thinkabIe that the Russian people should be
allowed to read in their press ~articals descrlb-
ing the privileges and superior conditions OF
life prevailing among the serfs OF capitalism
here. Gutenberg and his colleagues were al
lowed to travel where they would and, al
though his farewell to us was a snarl and a
threat Of war, written under official auspices
by a spokesman for the official press of his
country, this hostility had been anticipated
and was only casually noted. He, on the other
hand, justified the limitations placed on Amer
lean information from Russia, on the ground
that the American reporters were not COM
munists ard therefore would not be sympathe-
tic.
The common criticism Of the American
press offered by the communists and by many
frustrated second-rate American essayists, is
that it is { commercial institution which sells
advertising space and therefore is utterly be-
holden to those who buy it. The alternative
however is either the adless newspaper, the
most recent of which has been rafting the
cup lately after losing s. 1000, 900 in COMPETE
ton with more honest and. from the profess
sional standpoint, incornparably better dailies,
or the subsidized organ CT a group or interest.
AS long as some Lapers sell advertising
space, the adless paper will fail commercially
because the advertising revenue permits the
commercial paper to hire better reporters and
writer's and turn out a better product. The
subsidized publication of a political party, such
as The Worker, of the communists in New
York, doesn't even profess to present honest,
Impartial treatment Of news. The Worker, of
course, not only accepts ads but. in a memo
rable instance, b%adgered the A. and P. stores
for a share OF its advertising appropriation,
but it doesn't get enough. Had the A. and P.
yielded, The Worker probably would not have
changed its editorial policies, But no more
have the commercial papers which calmly pub
lished The revelation, quite embarrassing to
John Hartford, of A. and P, that he had loan
ed 5000, GOO to Elliott Roosevelt, and lost it..
Nor did MI. Hartford even suggest that the
story be dropped or tempered.
Papers which live on subsidies. whether
from political. religious, racial or financial
groups, exist Only to serve the interests of
those VINO support them, and objective fair
ness is hearsay in their columns. In New York.
The worker fired Howard Rushmore, its movie
critic and a party member, for refusing to
change his opinion of Gone With The Wind
and Rushmore apostatizel and became an in
teresting and reliable authority on the politi
cal and intellectual antics of his late COM
rades. Had a commercial paper canned a re-
viewer for this reason the incident would have
been so rare as to have been scandalous
but, occurring ir The Worker, it caused only
momenta1y amusement in a limited circle.
Meanwhile, a dozen or more syndicated COM
mentators daily flout the owners policies in
hundreds OF commercial papers.
Sllas Bent, a reporter Of many years. ex-
perlence, not entirely pleasant, in the Ameri-
can press nevertheless wrote a few wears ago
a tribute called Newspaper CRUSADERS in
which he said: my purpose had been to il
illuminate the character Oh the newspaper as
a crusader and the results accomplished. Too
little attention has been paid by everybody to
a normal and immensely important function
of daily press and I have set about to make
amends
l agree that while We are not self-critical
to a serious fault, we OF the American press
seldom call attention 10 this valuable service
Of ours That might be a culpable neglect,