Evening star., 1951-09-08
Toss-And the Press Galleries

The motive behind proposals to bar repre-
SentativeS of TaSS, Russian news agency from
the Capitol press galleries is repriSal 1t is under
Standable and is supported by an appealing logic
In CZechoSovakia William N Oats, Associated
Press correspondent lies in jail He was convicted
after Communist trial on trumped-up charges
of espionage. The few American correspondents
in countries behind the Iron Curtain, in Moscow
for example, watched like criminals. Every
thing they send back home is censored Nothing
gets out that the Communists are not willing to
approve
BY way of contrast, the chief of the TaSS
bureau in Washington, Mikhail Federov, and
members of his Washington staf-American
citizens-are admitted to the press galleries at
the Capitol, to some of the briefng conferences
at the State Department and Pentagon, the press
conferences at the White House and other Gov
ernment agencies. For the most part they
on the same footing as American correspondents
in their access to the sources of official news.
There would be certain justice in giving the
representatives of the foreign Communist press
in Washington dose of the same sort of medi-
cine that American correspondents in Russia are
made to swallow. Revenge is sweet.
But the responsibility for decision now facing
the Committee of Correspondents, which admin
listers the press galleries at the Capitol under
authority of Congress, is a serious one. It will
not be taken lightly The Star is sure and the
consequences of expeling Tass from the press
galleries will be thought through. The commit
tees first decision is wise one. 1t has asked
the State Department and the Department of
Justice for advice on the precise status of Mr..
Federov, chief of the TaSS bureau.
Mr. Federov was admitted to the United
States under an official" visa. That identified
him as an agent of the Russian government,
which he is. In Russia news services and news
papers are instruments of government Mr..
FederOv does not enjoy the status of diplomat,
with the immunities conferred. But the only
way he could get into the United States legally
is as an agent of the Russian government. AS
Communist he would be denied entry under our
own laws And Russia does not grant passports
to her own citizens to travel abroad except as
agents of the Russian government.
The first question for the Committee of
Correspondents to decide, in the case of Mr.. Fed
erov, is whether he qualities for admittance to
the press galleries as a newspaperman. If he
does not practice his ostensible calling as head
of news agency, he has no right to sit in the
gallery But the responsibility of the Committee
of Correspondents would seem to end with its
determination of his status newSpaperman.
If he is suspected of being spy or an lnteh-
gence agent, the confirmation of that suspicion
should rest with the Department of Justice and
the State Department. Appropriate action to
expel him. on the ground that he is Disgusting
his real activities under the cloak of journalism
could only be taken by the Government-not the
Committee of Correspondence expulsion in
that case would mean expulsion from the United
States as we'll as the press galleries.
For the Committee of Correspondents to
expel Mr.. Federov and his Tass colleagues from
the gallery as an act of reprisal for the treat
ment> of Mr.. Oats would be mistake. In the
first place, the chances are remote that it would
help get Mr. Oats out of jail. In the second
place, it would doubtless set in motion a chain
reaction of reprisal and counterreprisal which
could injure us as much as it hurt the Russians.
But the chief consideration is whether we
wish to repudiate, under provocation principle
which has been most strongly championed by
American journalism. The principle is that there
should be free flow of information between
the peoples of the world 1t is principle which
the ruling gangSterS in Communist countries
despse because free flow of information would
undermine and in time destroy the tyrannes by
which they keep their power 1t is a principle
that American neWSpapermen should cherish and
work for as the ultimate hope of free men
everywhere, one of the greatest of all symbols
of freedom.
We should practice what we preach. We
should not lower ourselves to the level of the
cutthroats in temporary control of Czechoso-
vakia by adopting their own tactics. There are
ways to hurt CzechoSlovakia, as CzechoSlovakia
will learn. But reprisals against newspapermen,
provided they are newspapermen is not one
of them