Evening star., 1952-10-24
Papers Deny Charge
By "a Authors Of
Campaign News Bias
BY the Associated Press

American authors Of partisan
ship" news presentation of the
presidential campaign have issued
statements denying the allega-
tionS.
The authors statement. singl-
ing out ~ papers for criticism,
did not specify the candidate the
signers said was being sighted.
However, four of the authors
John Steinbeck, John Hersey,
Herman Wouk and Cleveland
Amory-said at a news conference
that most newspapers are play
ing down" Gov. Adlai E. Steven
son and favoring Gen. Dwight D.
Eisenhower.
Basis for Conclusions.
The four authors. who said they
personally are for Gov. Stevenson,
said they based their conclusions
on samplings from 26 newspapers
over a one-week period in seven
doubtful States Ohio, Mas
sachuSettS. Wisconsin. Michigan.
Illinois, Pennsylvania and Cali
fornia.
They said only four Of the 26
papers-the Boston Globe, the
Toledo Blade, the Akron Beacon
journal and Cleveland Plain
Dealer-showed fair handling of
campaign news.
The four authors who made
the survey said the other % news
papers studied were:
The Chicago Tribune. the Chi
cago Sun Times, the Chicago
Herald-American.
The Boston Post. the Boston
Herald. the Boston Record and
Advertiser.
The Dayton (Ohio) Daily, the
Columbus (Ohio) Citizen.
The Philadelphia Inquirer. the
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.
the Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph. the
Pittsburgh Press.
The San Francisco Chronicle,
the San Francisco Examiner. the
Oakland (CalifO Tribune. the Los
Angeles Examiner, the Los Angeles
Times.
The Detroit News, the Detroit
Free Press, the Detroit Times. the
Milwaukee Journal, the CMadison)
Wisconsin Journal.
Lists Papers Faults.
Mr.. Wouk, acting as spokesman
for the group Wednesday, said
that these papers were not free
of one or more Of the following
faults:
81. Slanted writing of news sto-
ries. 2. Prejudiced use of photo
graphs. 3. Unfavorable placement
Of stories concerning Democrats.
4. Volume of coverage of Demo-
cratic news. S. Inadequate gen.
eral coverage of the campaign as
whole. 6. Omission of stories
favoring Democrats. Z. Use of
headlines rejecting meaning of
stories inaccurately."
Challenging the authors state
ment yesterday were the Boston
Post. the Boston Herald. the CO.
lumbus (Ohio) Citizen, the Day.
ton (Ohio) Daily News. the
Chicago Herald-American, the
Chicago Sun-TimeS and the (Mad-
1Son Wiscon State journal.
Said John Griffin, editor in
chief Of the Boston Post:
"On a day when the Associated
Press lead on Stevenson features
q statement by the Democratic
presidential candidate that Ike
is worried about my funny bone
and am worried about his back
bone and the Associated Press
lead on Eisenhower quotes the
general as saying We are trapped
in Korea are we supposed to give
the stories equal prominence?"
Mr.. Griffin said the stories ap-
peared in the Posts October S
issue.
Don Weaver, editor of the Co.
lumbus Citizen, Scripps- Howard
newspaper backing Gen. Eisen.
hover. said:
II doubt If the "a authors have
read the Citizen consistently al
through the campaign. We
are very meticulous to see cover.
age Is equal. We are leaning
over backwards to treat both side.
fairly"
Hits Artificial Balance.
George E. Minot, managing
editor of the Boston Herald, said
a.. We have consistently triec
and we fell sure we have succeed.
ed in giving equal space to both
candidates. although any artificial
mathematical balance of space b!
inches is ridiculous measure.
The Herald challenges Messrs
Steinbeck, Hersey, Wouk ant
Amory to show that we hav,
slanted any news in favor of on
candidate over another"
Herb Koehl, managing editor o
the Dayton Daily News. said
Every day we refresh our stat
with the idea Of giving politica
news unbiased treatment. I fin,
it quite difficult to believe tina
any one who has read our pape
could believe that we are in an
way slanting the news"
Milburn P. Akers, executive ed
itor Of the Chicago Sum- Time!
which is supporting Gen. Eisen
hover. said:
The statement is obviously il
responsibilities much so that
will be disowned by responsible
men around Gov. Stevenson.
Praised for Coverage.
Roy L. Matson, editor Of h
Wisconsin State Journal, com