Evening star., 1952-11-16
Editors Request End
OF Truman's 5 Order
Curbing Information
washington, D. G.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER l6, 1852
BY the Associated Press

BY the Associated Press
BOSTON, Nov. 15.-Managing
editors of the Nation said today
that secrecy is the refuge of cor
rupt. wicked and reactionary gov
ernment" and urged complete
freedom of information concern
ing Government agencies.
Specifically, the concluding ses-
sion of the annual meeting of the
Associated Press Managing Edi-
tors Association recommended re-
vocation of President Truman'S
order of September Is, 1851, re-
Stricting information on activities
of Federal bodies.
Congress and State Legislatures
were urged. in a resolution on
freedom of information, ''to give
the most careful scrutiny to all
enactments to see to it that pro-
vision is made for the full disclo-
sure to the public of those trans
actions of Government that are
the just and proper concern Of
the public :"
The resolution continued: "And
be it further resolved that the Of
f1cers of the Government of the
United States, the officials of the
several States, and those of the
counties and cities of the United
States. be and hereby are urged
to conduct publicly the public
business. to make continuously
that full disclosure of all public
transactions that is the founda-
tion of our freedom and the sur
est safeguard against corruption
and malfeasance, tyrany and op-
preston"
Restrict Classifying Authority.
The editors also proposed that
authority to classify documents
into categories of top secret"
"secret." confidential" and "re-
stricted," be limited to military
security agencies.
Continuous review of such
classif1cations by an '"authority
other than the classifying author
ity' was recommended by the
group.
A pledge of assistance was given
to James S. Pope of the Louis
vile CKy.) Courier journal in
''his sustained fight for freedom
of information" Mr.. Pope, re-
tiring director of the association,
is chairman. of the Committee on
Freedom of Information of the
American Society of Newspaper
Editors.
Another resolution appealed toI
the Federal Government to press
for the release" of Associated
Press Correspondent William N.
Oats, serving a 10-year prison
term IN Czechoslovakia on espi-
onage charges brought by the
Communist regime.
Develop Personnel.
In the field of "shop talk" Nor
man z. Isaacs of the Louisville
(KyD Times, newly elected asso-
citation president, urged that more
attention be given to development
of supervisory personnel, both byI
individual newspapers and the As
sociated Press.
I'VE need an in-training' pro-
gram he declared, Ito improve
personnel affairs in the newspa-
per business. The industry needs
a massive re-tooling because
you're not going to get creative
neWspapering without creating
newspapermen.
Wed like to see the AP put \
a tool in its own hands to i'm
prove not only the AP report, |
but eventually all newspapers"
Personnel Handling.
Mr.. Isaacs stated that good per-
sonnel handling in the newspaper
business "is largely non-existent." 4"
He criticized current methods of
selecting supervisors, charging
that many persons not qualified
for the positions were promoted /
without sufficient consideration to |
their abilities in that direction.
Frank j. Starzel, Associated 1
Press general manager, said the
AP has program for developing 1
potential supervisory talent, add
ing: "A good reporter is not nec-
essarily qualified for a supervisory
position. You can spoil a good l
reporter, in many instances, by
giving him supervisory duties"
With the windup of the busi-
ness session the delegates went to
Providence, R. l., to attend the
Harvard-BroWn football game.
The final convention activity was
shore dinner, sponsored by the
pf0vidnncn IOl1rno pu1lofip