Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-11-25
IN OLD PROBLEM IN A NEW SETTING
Freedom Of the Press-From What?

\ on hand to tell reporters what
news might involve security. A
group Of media representatives
told him politely that it was his
responsibility, not that Of the
press. to stop the Pentagon leaks.
Secretary Mcnamara has accepted
that responsibility. He is making
considerable progress in stopping
leaks. with results as yet in
decisive.
A Zony Ideo
The idea Of placing on loan to
Government gentlemen Of the
press who would be trusted by
their brethren to advise them on
what to print and not to print Is.
as zany now as it ever was. Fur
thermore, 1t would be a strange de-
parture from some of the funda-
mental tenets Of journalism If the
press. in the absence of an emer-
gency which persuaded Govern
ment to invoke censorship, ever
fell for the idea.
The confused thinking on this
subject was strikingly illustrated
recently by two editorials printed
In Editor & Publisher. The first
one quoted. with Understandable
approval, an editorial from The
Times of London ITO years ago,
Said the Old Thunderer: -.
I'VE cannot admit that the
purpose of the press Is to share
the labors of craftsmanship, or
that 1t is bound by the same
limitations, the same duties, the
same liabilities as Ministers of
the Crown.
ITO perform its duties with
entire independence. and conse-
quently with the utmost public
advantage, the press can enter
no close or binding alliances
with the statesmen of the day,
nor can 1t surrender its perma.
nent interests to the con-
venience and ephemeral power :
of any government.
THE first duty of the press is
to obtain the earliest and most
correct intelligence of the events .
of the time and instantly. by
disclosing 1t, make it the COM
mon property of the nation. -
THE duty of the journalist is
the same as that of the his
torian-to seek out the truth
above all things and to present d
to his readers not such things
as statecraft would wish them
to know but the truth as near
as he can attain it," %
1t is too bad that on the fol-
lowing week Editor & Publisher
printed another editorial approx
ing the same wornout old idea
of an advisory panel" Of news
papermen, put at the disposal Of
Government and assuming some
of its responsibilities, to assure
the public that 1t will be told
the truth about our military and
foreign policy programs.
The Knotty Problem
The conflicting interests Of
Journalism and of Government do
pose occasional knotty problems. If
Government feels that leaks are
placing security in jeopardy, 1t Is
the responsibility of Government
to stop the leaks. But to news
papermen who have been around
Washington for long time, this
administrations concern over
leaks seems not only exaggerated
but even naive. Granting that the
State Department and the Penta-
gon cannot have every Tom, Dick
and Harry they employ leaking
their versions of Government poll
cy to the press, and thus confus-
ing the public as to what the
Government is doing, the fact Is
that every Tom, Dick and Harry
do not do any such thing. Nor
does a rather knowledgeable and
sophisticated press corps in Wash
ington swallow everything its
members are told. And while the
press is accused from time to time
Of violating security, such accu-
sations rarely stand up under any
careful appraisal of the actual
facts involved. ~
Secretary Mcnamara and Assist
ant Secretary Sylvester may put
the fear of God in their associates.
assign intelligence people to tail
newspaper reporters around the
Pentagon and find out who talks
to whom, and stop all the leaks.
And in stopping all the leaks, If it
were possible to do so, Messrs. Nc
Namara and Sylvester are going
to lose the advantage of discov-
ering the existence of significant
opinions and currents of thought
in their own huge bailiwick that
often become evident when dis
covered by a reporter.
That advantage is more impor.
tant in the long run than the oc-
casional disadvantage Of reading in
the papers something they don't
think the papers should have .
printed-in the public interest.
B. M. NICK. =.