Evening star., 1953-04-23
Absurd-ond Inaccurate

If there is one thing in this world that is
literally impossible, it is to publish newspaper
that will please everybody.
The latest volunteer to join the ranks of the
critics of the press is Francis Biddle, former
Attorney General and now national chairman
OF the Americans for Democratic Action
The ADA, variously described as non
partisan organization and as the left wing of
the Democratic Party, has made study of the
manner in which six newspapers, including The
Star, reported the Investigations and resigna-
tions of William M. Boyle, jr., and c. Wesley
Roberts, former chairmen of the Democratic
and Republican National Committees.
Mr.. Biddle starts with the erroneous prem
iSe that these two stories were equal in news
value" He is entitled of course, to his opinion
on this point but he should know better The
Boyle story broke at time of extensive expo
sure of scandal and corruption in the Truman
administration. And Mr.. Boyle was acting chair
man of the Democratic National Committee at
the time of his alleged misuse of influence in
connection with an RFC loan to st. Louis
concern From the standpoint of news value,
anything involving the RFC at that time was
of national Importance on the national scene.
Mr.. Roberts, on the other hand, was a
relatively obscure private citizen at the time
of the transactions in Topeka, Kansas which
G. o. p national chairman. The incident was
local in character and would never have assumed
national Importance except for Mr.. Roberts
subsequent appointment as national chairman
1t is fair to say that Eastern newspapers, by
and large, were slow in awakening to the politi-
cal significance of the Topeka story. But it is
ridiculous to say that the two stories were equal
In news value.
Although Mr.. Biddle makes no specific
complaint, his essential conclusion is that the
six papers studied by ADA were unfair because,
in the period of the study, the Boyle story
received 1912 column inches of space and
appeared on the front page 10 per cent of the
time, while the Roberts story received 644A
inches of space and appeared on the front page
1928 per cent of the time.
This ADA study was not accurate in the
case of The Star, which was said to have de-
voted 80 inches to the Roberts story and 1884
to the Boyle story. The study covered 10 days
in each case, and the ADA reported that The
Star printed nothing on four of the days COW
cred by the Roberts story study That is not
correct. On two of those four days news stories
totalling 1712 inches were published, and on
one of the remaining two days II inches were
devoted to special article on the Roberts case
by The Stars political correspondent, Gould
Lincoln.
These errors in the study, however, are or
little Importance.
The important thing is that this kind of
complaint is an old story, the criticism over
the years coming from both sides of the politi-
cal fence. Republican Senators Taft and Nc
Carthy have accused the press Of being unfair
to their political positions Senator Morse, who
calls himself liberal, attacked the newspapers
last week for being unfair to him. During the
recent campaign Governor Stevenson alluded
to a one-party, Democratic press. When
Mr.. Truman was in the White House he fire.
quently accused the press Of being unfair to
him. And now, even before the honeymoon has
ended, rumblings of similar criticism are begin
ming to be heard from friends of the Eisenhower
administration.
Mr.. Biddle says that while these charges
and countercharges have perhaps reached
the point Of absurdity, they nevertheless seri-