Evening star., 1953-12-27
sy ,he Asseeia.ed Prsss

SAAG944S SeSDSoA9
ship conditions and Of other re.
strictions tending to curb the
free flow Of news both within
nations and across nationa
borders. But danger signals con-
tinued to crop up all through
the latter half Of 1853.
These conditions are showr
in a survey made public last
night-the semiannual survey
conducted by the Associated
Press around the world.
The various forms Of direct
and indirect censorship seemed
to follow closely the politica.
patterns Of the countries
involved. Where q government
became more stable. the treat
ment Of the press. both domestic
and foreign. became more liberal
Where there was crisis and in
stability, pressures were in
creased, editors and reporters
were arrested. newspapers were
padlocked and outright censor
ship was sometimes imposed.
The Soviet Union continued
rigid, direct censorship of ali
news, but most countries show
an inclination to shy away from
such outright control. Where
governments felt control was
necessary, they devised other
ways of keeping the press under
their thumbs.
In Egypt. Cuba and Colombia
lin each case the countries had
gone through recent upheaval
and crisis-outright censorship
originally imposed was lifted.
There were no new cases during
the 6-month period where actual
censorship was instituted.
Here are the details on some
of the situations affecting the
unhampered flow. of news, as
reported by A. p. correspondents
throughout the world:
Soviet Union - The official
censor in Moscow continues to
hold q tight rein on all informa-
ton leaving the country by cable,
telephone or mail. Since the
death Of Stain last April. there
have been some noticeable re-
laxations by the censor on GER
tain surprising subjects-parti-
cularly in commenting on inter-
national affairs. But the CEN
sorship still is rigid and some
times capricious.
What the censor pencils out
gives a revealing picture of what
items strike a sensitive nerve
IN the Kremlin. It is extremely
difficult to pass through the
censor the idea that the Soviet
press almost the exclusive
source of news for foreign cor
respondents - often carries one
idea on a subject for home con-
sumption and another for propa-
ganda abroad.
Also deleted by the censor's
pencil are references to the
movement of the top Soviet lead
ers or their comparative rank
In relation to each other. The
censor is sensitive to calling
Moscow's sweeping propaganda
campaigns "anti-American."
Correspondents in Moscow can
not send out military. industrial
or economic details except those
published in the Soviet press.
There has been a certain cas-
ing up on some information.
This is attributed more to the
fact that censors are now more
experienced and have a little
more personal authority to make
their own decisions, than any
particular sign Of general change
OF policy toward the press. The
Soviet press. of course, is under
the absolute control of the au-
thorities.
The COminform Countries of
Eastern EurOpe.-The domestic
press is under rigid government
control. Except for occasions
when groups of Western CORE
spondents were allowed into
these countries on special occa-
sions during the year, no regular
newsman from the West fur
n1shed news daily to the outside
world from Czechoslovakia. Po-
land, Hungary, Romania, Bull
garia, Albania or the Baltic
states. Such news usually came
from the official government
owned radio in the capitals of
these countries, broadcasting to
the outside world for propa-
ganda purposes.
France.-The principal news
agency-Agence France Presse-
receives a government subsidy
Communist newspaper premises
sometimes are raided by police
searching for seditiouS docu-
ments, but none is closed down
Foreign language newspapers oc-
casionally are banned for publi-
cation of deliberate mistruths
about the government.
Italy-The bulk of the press
except for Communist and Fas-
cist newspapers-show definite
signs of reacting to Government
pressure on questions of foreign
policy. However. on Italy's be-
half, 1t can be said the italian
press probably has more freedom
and less restriction on news than
1t has had at any time since the