COVERING UP BLUNDERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP67-00318R000100780013-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 17, 2013
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: May 4, 1961
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/05/17: CIA-RDP67-00318R000100780013-9
Frog* EdII Other MAI 4t 1ot-it
PcCa Pas Page
TARENTUM, PA.
VALLEY NEWS
24,019
MAY 4
overing Up Blunders
AS might have been expected,
se .Adminisstztiqn? officials ,a. r e
1142747f0 in part for the.-
bah . ? ?acle which they created. This
at m . ?to6Cifstribute the blame else-
where
overestimates the role- of the
newspapers in. the invasion and thor-
oughly underestimates the role of the
press in a ' free society. .
One nigh'. official involved in the
invasion, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
reports, actually went so far as to
seek a legal opinion on press curbs.
He soon . learned that such a law
would be unconstitutional That les-
son should be elementary to officials
of all ranks and stations. ' ._?- ,. ?
The ,same official. still*qhinksi.
.
however, that some restric1f0Smight
be legal, and that in. any event .the
press might be' urged to subinit to ilie
kind of voluntary censorshiP :that
4 exists in wartime. It'-was this kind
of censorship Which President Ken-
nedy must have had in mind when
he addressed the Americqn News-
paper Publishers Association 'conven-
tion last week.
Ki;t912,..!nrszhalle
(
itr ame)1074,wftgkojiawpt:
? - .%,.. . _.
t has responsibility, of Course', to '
protect, national security. But its
, priacjagazogoasibil4 is io ?Worm
:the American people. ?
.' Some official critics blame the
press for exaggerating the Cuban in-
vasion attempt and, as a result, Cas-
?....... _
"?
tro's victory. Yet official secrecy
prompted these errors. Newspapers
and other'inedia had to depend on a
babble of refugee voices and even on
a small public relations firm Which
issued refugee "communiques." The
reporting was no more confused than
Administration -policy.
Yet these same critics argue that
the press should not have reported
the invasion plans in 'advance. If this
were so, the Government should have
' kept the scheme secret?and It was
about as secret" ay James Reston's
words, "as opening day in Yankee
Stadium." Keeping. such open secrets
is certainly, not the business of the
press, especially when the secrets in-
volVe. great risk to the nation's for-
eign pplicy. A better informed 'pub-
lic might, in facl, have cautioned
against a filibustering expedition in
Cuba. Some newspapers, at least,
warned of the -consequences.
The critical officials seem to be
arguing both that the press did not
print the full truth about the Cuban
invasion, and that the .press should
not have printed so much of the truth.
It is safe to assume, however, that
they would have favored the fullest
reporting ha'd their proxy invasion
been a success. What they .seeni to
want the press to hide is not so much
official secrets as official blunders:
No worse case could be made by
-leaders of a representative govern-
ment for restrictions on a free press.
_
The above editorial also appeared
in the following other newspaper : NEW KENSINGTON DISPATCH,
PA. ? MAY 4, 1961
Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/05/17 : CIA-RDP67-00318R000100780013-9