MOYNIHAN ASSERTS PRESS IGNORES PERIL TO FREEDOM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100090007-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 13, 2011
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: April 26, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/13: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100090007-4
APTItLE APPEARED NEW YORK TIMES
~' rJ RL 4~1-"" 26 APRIL 1983
lobby in Congress and would join law.
suits to overturn the "equal time.' and
' "fairness doctrine."
Moynihan Asserts Press
The fairness doctrine says broadcast..
ers must provide a balanced presents.
Ignores Peril to Freedom or Of iles, candidate oantare guarante Uned
other thds are guaranteed
equal time to respond to the broadcast
that they had failed to publicize actions press attention but that "if you put the
by the Reagan Administration and Con= montage together, you see a clear pat.
grass that be said jeopardized censtitu- tern that should be of very great coo-
tional protections for heedom of
The senator, a New York' Democrat,
said that "there is a truly menacing at-
mosphere gathering in Washington" 1
but that Dews organizations had not re-
ported it and that their owners had not prayer in schools. But be said there was
lobbied agatast It. _ Tittle news coverage of the Senate fiii-
He cited the passage last year of a'' buster that stopped that proposal or of
law that makes it a crime topublish they the c sisitutional issues at stake.
name of a covert intelligence agent, ?$e also urged the publishers to SRht a
even when the name is taken from pub- presidential directive that says Gov
licly available documents. He also cited i ernment officials who have bad access
statements by political opponents.
ByJONATHAN FRIENDLY HIM-1Ye newspapers have been
at economic odds with broadcasters,
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihatrn He said that no single Administration but most of the major newspaper tom.
tern to newspaper publishers and a&
Senator Moynihan said the First
Amendment was threatened last year
by a bill to strip the Supreme Court of
power to review state court dedsioos on
to secret documents must get Govern-,;
meat, approval for books and articles 1
they write after they leave office.
?i
mom '-than 2.000 publishers and their The effect of the new Presidential
guests, who are meeting in the Waldorf. directive could well be to strike at the
Astoria Hotel for the 97th annual con. heart of the ability of the public to be in.
vention of the American Newspaper formed about their Government," the
Publishers Association. Senator said.
in interviews after his speech, sev- ' The publishers heard a defense of Ad.
eral publishers said the organization ministration economic and regulatory
had -worked against the ~?t-ideati- policies from Transportation Secretary
fication legislation but agreed that they' Elizabeth H. We and from Senator
could do more to focus public attention Bob Dole, Republican of Kansas.
on actions that they said threatened Secretary Dole asked the publishers
First Amendment freedoms, to help focus public attention on the
"I've been saying the same thing for problem of drunken driving. _
years," said Otis Chandler, chairman Senator Dole said recent statistics
of the board of the Times Mirror Com= proved that the economy was begintung
pane, which owns, among other news- to grow again.
papers, The Los Angeles Times, News.: The publishers attended workshops
day and The Denver Post He said the an such industry problems as circula-.
newspapers carried articles about such tio,n, g and technology. In one
developments "but it gets pushed off session, officers of The Associated
the front page by harder news." Press defended a 9.5 percent price in-
"It is hard to get publishers excited crew and said they were still working
unless they see the clear and immediate on a new system for apportioning the
danger," agreed Allen H. Neuharth, the 00M of the operation.
president of the Gannett Company, the over the weekend, the association's
nation's largest newspaper chain. . board of directors said it would support.
K. Prescott Low, the Publisher of The
Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Mass.; noted
that the A.N.PA's government affairs
committee had lobbied against the
agent-identity law and against propos-
als to change the Freedom of?Informs- ,
lion Act.
'Senator Moynihan was applauded by
efforts by television broadcasters and
others to repeal Federal regulations
that they say regulate television news
programs. The board said It would
panties now also own - television and
cable television systems that must ad-
here to the Federal broadcast rules.
The board bad previously said it op-
posed the rules but had not indicated
steps it would take to chaneethem.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/01/13: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100090007-4