Evening star., 1953-10-17
Ethics Form Basis
OF Press Freedom,
Editors Are Told
BY The Assoeiosed Press

DY ms AS1uCtutGo VVeSS
CHICAGO, OCT. Good
ethics is the keystone of freedom
of the press, a Louisville news
paper executive said today, and
newspapers that chisel, that
suppress news, that exist only for
the return on the dollar are the
first to go under"
Norman E. Isaacs, managing
editor of the Louisville Times,
told the National Editorial Asso-
citation that on journalistic ethics
there is no possible separation
between big city newspapering
and that in small cities and towns
and villages"
Holds One Norm Applies.
Mr.. ISaacs, who is president of
the Associated Press Managing
Editors Association, told the edi-
tors and publishers:
"a small town editor who per-
mits himself to be bribed into
going on a State payroll, such as
happened here in Illinois only a
few short years ago, puts his big
city colleague in a shameful posi-
tion-juSt as much as the big
city newspaperman who allows
himself to be bribed for news
coverage disgraces the small daily
or weekly journalist. In the eyes
of the public we are all tarred
with the same brush"
Mr.. Isaacs said there certain
ly are terrible papers which can
coast for a long time on mo-
mentum and frequently do"
But. he added:
"Over the long haul, however,
the ones that said through foul
weather are the good ones
those with some sense of feel
ing for their communities best
interests. The ones that chisel,
that suppress news, that exist
only for the return of the dol
lar-those are the first to go
under"
Cites Press Responsibility.
Mr.. Isaacs said that all the
newSpaperman has that any
other citizen does not have sis
the linotype machine, a printing
press and a roll of paper"
But the possession of that
typesetting machine, that print
ing press and that roll of paper
puts upon us tremendous re-
sponsibility," Mr.. Isaacs de-
clared.
"If your conscience - your
sense of duty-has been work.
ing, you are doing the job prop
erly," he added. "All of us
must-if a free Journalism is to
survive-serve our readers prop
erly and adequately. Taken in
its full import, it is a pure and
simple ethical problem.
Good ethics is good business.
And good ethics is the keystone
of freedom of the press"
Mr.. ISaacS said that the place
to begin in preserving democracy
"is on the hometown level with
full and decent reporting of what
goes on"
Carlson Hits Postal Moves.
In another prepared address
Senator Carlson, Republican, Of
Kansas said he would oppose any
further kidnapping" of the rate
making power from Congress by
the Post Office Department. He
said thai "in addition Congress
should explore every possibility
of retrieving those portions of the
rate-making power which already
have been taken over by the Post
Office Department."
Senator Carlson, chairman of
the Senate Post Office and Civil
Service Committee, told the group
that "the argument about post
Office rates frequently revolves
around facts that are not facts
aC ALL" He added:
"The statement has repeatedly
been made by members of the
Post Office staff, that the loss on
second-class mail was $240 mil
lion last year, and that recently
proposed rate increases for sec
ond class will reduce that loss by
only 9 per cent.
THAT $240 million figure has
been repeated again and again,
by speaker after speaker, until
many Americans, including even
some members of Congress, have
come to accept it as a fact. But,
it is not a fact. There have been
no calculations that can be ac-
cepted as to the amount of actual