Evening star., 1949-04-24

kAst t%AHas&tI ~ tShsNsAAss& AtFNA 70
sakh. roughly translated h,o
EngltSh. Is cAlira ~ Inr L4as .sa
TIC EanlSSaon et TAe9Ent b, d.
fQalve Media Tlais iKa sn e.
nclai translation 81 wn3cA h4.s
Il typS~fttten p~ses O. 1oalScas
papeF. consists ot 6h arfa3ate a..
ttelcS II covers every As.Sri e
paell&Ains and pfH,Bns isra
new spapegs to s~s~tS &nd pam,s:4-
lets, a. veil a. gAato potnm4bg-
e2uen within and to the outas.5e
world II even appslva te al p,.a-
lte elSe asslaas. eAlpwAs4ots -
opinion and a& tho caption Il
the ia~ Itself xaeEes1E evan
thoughts
While II Is Stili shr gRw ~ illr
land. officials Of i'gva1ticni Jose
Arevaies administration arr py.y
sensitive about II and alv qsa3S K
TO insist that II ls not twtng ap.
plied at the present Time Net.
every nov and u1en some incident
or event comes 10 light 10 prove
that censorship in uuRtemala can
be very thorough
Guatemala Censors
One OF the most amuAing IN
stances OF this fact camr 10 Asht
recently when the AgeNalo govern
ment vas engaged In A labor dis
pu,e With the United Fruit ca.
In speech IN the United Ststfs
Senate. Senator Henry Cabot
Lodge. Republican. Of MANlaehs.
settS causticAlls criticised l's
0uaiemalan goveFnmrnl for ..A
treatment Of the trut ee,npsuv
and OF United States enterprise
in general All the news services
in this country carried excerpts
OF the Senator'S S remarks 10 ali
Central and South American
countries. including Guatemala,
But not a eord saw the light Of
day In the press Of Guatemala
City.
Yet the 0uatemalan Minister a
Economy publicly retuted ths
story. Immediately all the newa-
papers began 10 ask questions As
10 where he got the news and Why
they had heard nothing about IT..
In fact. local furor about CEN
sorshlp WAS raised Wherrupon
the Foreign Minister gos into tlae
argument, and denied there had
been any censorship. Implying
that no such newS Dispatch had
come into the country To cap
the climax. the Minister quoted
The government censor" a. his
authority for the denial,
However. governmental lnfiu.
enee over news and opinion. In
any OF these countries, IL seldom
put into formal public lava, such
as the volumlnons statute govern
ING The Emission Of Thought" in
Guatemala. New and more mod
ern techniques are employed which
make II easier 70 avoid. not 10 say
deny, public, and especially for
eiRn. charges Of censorship
Ncwsprint Controlled
The newest and mos, effective
means OF debating 10 the local
press In such countries aA Araen~
tina. which. while boastlnR
President and Congress elected hy
the people Ia still an authoritarian
government. Is the control OF
nessprint. Under the guiss OF
stretching and making the great
est use OF what offsciala cali the
limited amount of foreign On.
change" the state has set lid A
monopoly for the importa ton and
distribution Of newsprtnt. and
doles II out 10 the various news.
papers on what II calls a basis
OF equality"
But as one ArRentlne pub
Usher puts II. when the gov.
eminent ftaelf owns or con-
trols the majority Of the news
papers. equality Of distribution
becomes extremely difrieult. ssps-
cialiy when only the government
knows how much comes into the
country or In on hand"
Now. because Of the limited
amount Of newsprint. " the Arvsn.
tine government has also ordered
all newspapers reduced In ksxe
Because the government In
Argentina, as In some Of the ottrr
countries. now dominates The
labor unions By having It's osn
parttsans and henchmsn In Ali
positions Of leadership. strikes
against opposition newspapers be
come an effective weapon.
Indirect censorship Ia alno tns
means chosen 70 control the trans.
mission Of news into and out az
the country by cable or radio In
some OF the countries, such ss
venezuela. Peru and even colofn.
Ola. as well as Argsnfina and
ofhert. the government targu.
selves own or operate powerful
sssrt-Tsys radio tranmnssttsrs.
giving local authorities dsrec, cor
troll over broadcasts and radio
grams. Sofne of the countries also
own or operate the leading cable
companies.
Even where the cable and radio
companies are privately owned. is
Ia stiil possible 10 carr oui tias
censorship Of news dispatches
without any puhllc iaw or govern
ment censor ever being Ia sY4-
denee. Ths companies are merely
informed in advance ths, they
win be held completely respon.i-
bic Ter any unfsFoFahie outgoing
or incoming dispatches. In fact.
this b the most universal method
uaed IN al Of the Latin American
countries where news restrictions
are prxetseed
All Of this IN spite os The fact
that iong before the United Ma
si0ns took up she dlscasAacn ef
greater freed<an for news ecgrs-
spondensa and observers. even be-
fore the United aatsous iisrH cane
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