The Wilmington morning star., 1947-04-18
Freedom, of Press
Ey ANNE O'HARE MCCORMICK

Prime Minister Stain has now added his
quota to the current discussion of freedom
of the press. His answers to the questions of
former Governor StasSen are characterized
by a frankness and geniality that distinguish
the interviews of the Soviet leader from those
of Mr.. Molotov Or other official spokesman
of the Government. Every statesman who
has dealt directly with Stain, from Mr.. Roose-
welt down, tells the same story; they used to
say, in the words of one %top-level American
negotiator: '"The only way to get anywhere
with Moscow is to talk to the boss" In recent
months, however, this view has changed. Mo-
lotov is now credited with welding great au-
thority in the Politburo and deciding most
questions of foreign policy.
These opinions, OF course, are only guesses.
Nobody except the MEMBERS of the inner
circle knows who decides what in the Kremlin
Or how responsibility is distributed among the
thirteen men who exercise the greatest and
most unlimited power in the world. 1t is this
mystery that gives point 10 Stains COM
ments on the press. 1t is interesting that
Molotov was present during the conversa-
ton with Stassen and evidently agreed with
his chiefs rather engagingly candid statement
that sit will be difficult in our country to dis
pense with censorship. Molotov tried to do it
several tines" the Marshal added. eve had
to resume it and each time we repented it,
He cited two Illustrations of abuse of press
freedom. On one occasion a false story was
sent out from the Teheran conference about
Marshal Tlmoshenko, who was reported to
have been slapped by Stain at a dinner at
which the Soviet general was not even present.
The report was promptly retracted and apollo
gized for by The United Press. On another
occasion, when Stain spent several months
in the Crimea, rumors were published con-
corning the reasons for his absence which ode
picted the Soviet Government as a sort of
geological garden"
These reports made the Soviet people an
cry. Mr.. Stain re1narke-, SO censorship had
to be restored. He did not explain how the
people heard of these fabrications, for it is
clear that he referred in the interview only
to censorship on outgoing news. Aside from
the few who have short-wave receiving sets
stimate at less than 200, 900 and can
listen in on radio programs from abroad, the
Russians hear nothing but what the Govern
ment permits them to hear.
This is the crux of the whole problem, for
while the Soviet Government has several times
listed the ban on outgoing dispatches, and is
allowing perfectly free reportage of
the Moscow conference, it has apparently
never occurred to anybody to consider lift
ing the government controls over the infor-
nation filtered out to the home public.
1t is taken for granted, as a practice be-
You'd question, that all news for inside con-
sumption, whether it is domestic or foreign,
should be strictly controlled. The official
spokesman quoted not long ago as saying that
the Soviet press was perfectly free to print
anything the Government approved was not
speaking humorously, or even cynically. He
was vclcing the normal view Of relationships
toward the public.
The two examples of irresponsible journ-
alism mentioned by Stain are Illuminating
for several reasons. First, they concern him
self. and show a personal sensitiveness to
false report that makes one ponder on the eff
fects Of the immunity of Soviet officials to
the Misrepresentation and criticism that are
the daily goad and spur of officeholders who
are voted in and out.
Second, they do point up the abuses of free
dom. As Mr.. Stassen explained, a correspond.
ent who sends incorrect reports does not last
long with any reputable newspaper. There
are reporters and publishers who take ad-
vantage of the freedom .they enjoy to sensa-
tionalize, distort and slant the news, and they
are. worse saboteurs of democracy than
its avowed enemies because they under
mine the foundation on which a free
society rests. They furnish excuses for cen
s%orships, and for those "great lies'' imbedded
in systems built on the theory that people
are too dumb to be trusted with the truth.
But the false note and the discords are the
price we have to pay to enjoy a chorus OF
many voices instead of the loudspeaker that
necessarily magnifies one voice.
Third, they show that Stain misses the
whole point of the argument FOR freedom of
information. His idea is that a false report.
no matter how easily corrected or disproved,
as it was in the insignificant cases he re-
ferred to, is a sufficient reason for shutting
all the doors to truth. He cannot see that the
very secrecy of the Soviet Government makes
it the subject of all kinds of rumors and con-
lectures that nobody can check. He and his
colleagues in the Politburo are probably bet
er informed than any one in Russia, but even
they are the prisoners of censorship, of the
one-way, selected information their reporters
send and their news-sifters print from abroad.
More important, he does not understand the
great injustice done to Russia itself, and the
Russian people, by cutting them off from the
world and the world from any true knowledge
of them. II there is distortion in the view
from both sides of the Iron Curtain, what is
to blame but the Iron Curtain? 1t is a truism
that until American reporters can move about
The Soviet Union as freely as Soviet reporters
move about the United States, and report
what they see as freely, there can be no real
understanding between the two countries -
New York Times.