Evening star., 1948-12-01
Magazine Offers Aid
In 0ne-Year Study
OF Press Freedom
BY the Assoeioisd Press

NEW YORK, Dec. IAN oher to
join in a one-year appraisal of the
performance Of the press has been
made to Chancellor Robert M. Hut
chins of the University Of Chicago
by Editor and Publisher magazine.
The offer was made in an editorial
discussing a speech by DR.. Hutchins
at Louisville, KY, November 10.
In the talk, DR.. HutchinS criti-
cized members of the National Con-
ference of Editorial Writers for
what you did to the report of the
Commission on the Freedom OF the
Press" and declared:
The most important recon-
mendation of the commission is
that which proposes the creation
of a new, independent, continuing
agency to appraise the performance
of the press in discharging its re-
sponsibility for public enlighten-
ment."
Panel of IL Suggested.
Editor and publisher suggested
that DR.. Hutchins pick out six Jay
men or educators and we'll select
six newspapermen who can sit
down and honestly discuss the good
and the bad points Of the press
without rancor."
The magazine proposed that the
plan be tried for year with two
meetings at six months intervals
each tor one day"
The II persons would be asked
to pay their own transportation to
New York or Chicago but the trade
journal offered to split the hotel
and food bills with DR.. Hutchins.
1t added that it would print
transcripts of the meetings lin full,
or edited with your consent. Or
we'll publish only the conclusions,
and you (Hutchins) can write that"
A university spokesman at Chi
cago said DR.. Hutchins probably
would reply direct to the magazine.
Recalls Criticism.
Editor and Publisher recalled that
the Chicago University head. in his
talk at Louisville, described editorial
writer's as teachers, but added:
II did not say you were good
teachers. A good teacher
has to know how to read. Not all of
you know how"
He characterized the New York
Herald Tribune, Washington Post,
Washington Star. Christian Science
Monitor and st. Louis Star-Times as
good teachers"
DR.. Hutchins, who headed the
Commission on the Freedom of the
Press, said universities and news
papers both should aim at public
enlightenment, commenting:
las we have passed the time
when a single man could by virtue
of his money make a university
the reflection of his whims and
fancies, so I wonder whether we
may not some day come to the
point when a single man cannot by
virtue of his ownership make a
large metropolitan daily the ref1ec-
ton of his whims and fancies, lin
tied only by the willingness of the
public to continue to pay him to
learn what his current whims and
fancies are"
80 r. urses Continuing Study.
DR.. Hutchins said continuing
study of the performance of the
press by an independent agency
would help in solving the problem:
How can the owner be made re-
sponsible?"
Some editorials have claimed that
the reading public judges the news
papers every day at the box Office,
DR.. Hutchins said.
THE inference" he continued,
lis that you must be doing right
by your readers or you wouldn' t
have so many.
What a thought that must be
for the citizens of Kansas City,
Minneapolis, Springfield, Worcester,
Rochester, Trenton, Toledo, Omaha,
Des Moines, Richmond, Louisville
and Galveston, to name only a few,
where people have to buy the papers
of one owner or go without"
Editor and publisher said it be-
lieved DR.. Hutchins guilty Of two
errors: Failure to include news
on the Commission on
the Freedom of the Press, and an
assumption that "all publishers
are reactionary."