CAN TRUTH HURT AMERICA?

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP67-00318R000100780079-7
Release Decision: 
RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 23, 2016
Document Release Date: 
May 17, 2013
Sequence Number: 
79
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
April 29, 1961
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP67-00318R000100780079-7.pdf79.24 KB
Body: 
? ? r "rf Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/05/17: CIA-RDP67-00318R000100780079-7 -_?_ NEW BRITt.7.14 CO:. HERALD EVENIM 30,482 r-)R 1 Can Truth exercised fullest responsibility iii the seL lection and publication of news whitnr" might be detrimental to national secur.; ity President Ken peaking to the American Newsp ublishers' Asso- ciation in New Y hursday, put .it this way:"If the Is awaiting a laration of war s imijOes the setn* discipline of corn itions, then I osSi only say that no ver p., a greate threat to our secu I fp. The President w probr not finci; a voice of disse0.ft thellit?usands of newspapers; wirf ,4er v iTiag a z ine s , and other news-gathering4gedia. The problem is: What is in the -Rational in-' eresli? ? What news could hurt national security? Is it any less damaging to report mis- sile test failures than to print that Cuban rebels were training in Florida ? a fact which Castro himself was trumpeting in public, long before the American . 4 press repeated the story? Ts there any point to the govevament's inviting several hundred newspaper edi- tors to a "briefing" on utmost security matters, only to have an Iron Curtain reporter seated among the audience? The point is, the ArnerCr.:an press is a fragmentized body, w4 newspaWs operating independently f each etlier, just as industries do, or opkeepers, or dentists. Yet, it is a pr s which with few execptions, cherishes the, degqb of responsibility it has maintained. The battle goes on: Has ;114....py;an,t to print anything that ? - erica? , 'tVrillitirt.atet,tunited States and would nobknowingiii* so: Zar?fabaullga,,E4Vicia?uemtubuex..edi- tog.?,lall,that..thiiii4olua1tarily.refu.wd to ' print any stories; about the recruiting, arming and training of Cuban exiles? 7: untiLike .Stozw-N45.114:0iPcint a 11..P.NPa? per the nor h east." 'This point, tbo, must be considered: The news' inikstIcome from somewhere, be it about 'missile- launching 'specifics, the worlpe in Miami, or whatver the story. Trie?Rovernment agencies in- volved, the sole repositories of the factual information, Should also be called on to exercise the responSibilities which the press is now asked to summon forth. The problem is complex. The Ameri- can system abhors government consor- ship, yet in the interest of national secur- ity, 'accepts the need for restriction of information. The press itself willingly accegts self-censorship as a measure of responsibility, but recognizes the infirmi- ties and dangers of such a practice. We do not .SuggeSt an answer to this dilemma, other than this observation: It is the philosophy of United States gov- ernment information agencies to empha- size truth, not to gloss over weaknesses nor to exaggerate successes. If the gov- ernment would recognize that the press follows the same- practice, and would come up with some workable security formula within that framework, the press would certainly do its share. 1 Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/05/17: CIA-RDP67-00318R000100780079-7