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
File:
Attachment | Size |
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Body:
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2013/05/17: CIA-RDP67-00318R000100780079-7
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NEW BRITt.7.14 CO:.
HERALD
EVENIM 30,482
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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