CORRESPONDENTS OF JUNKETS & THE USIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000200880006-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 3, 1999
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: August 26, 1966
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

Approved'For Release 1999/09/17 : CLA-RDP75-00149ROO0200.88
AUG Y, 6 1966
CORRESPONDENTS
Of Junkets & the USIA
in his en ess hearings on Viet Nam,
Senator J. William Fulbright has ex-
pressed so many worries about U.S. pol-
' icy-ranging from the rational to the ri-
'diculous-that it seemed inconceivable
he could find any new ones. But last
week Fulbright uncorked yet another:
the U.S. Information Agency may be
winning sympathy for the U.S. among
foreign newsmen.
To attack that sin, which is precisely
the one that the agency is supposed to
,commit, Fulbright called USIA Chief
Leonard Marks before the Senate For-
eign Relations Committee. The subject!
was junkets-with which Senators are
familiar-specifically USIA payment for;
the transportation of 30 to 35 Asian andf
European newsmen to Viet Nam. Fret-,
ted Fulbright: "Doesn't this point to a-
possible conflict of interest that might
compromise the objectivity newspapers
owe their readers?"
Patiently, Marks testified that no U.S.
newsmen were involved; that the USIA
had paid the bills because the corre- r
tt~~s',, apers could not otherwise!
ad Mto send a man; and that j
the foreign newsmen were under no obli-
gation to write anything other than what
they saw and felt. Pressing on, Fulbright;
& Co. pointed out that some U.S. news-i
papers have refused Pentagon offers of'
Viet Nam junkets. Wasn't this evidence
of their judgment that such junkets are II
corrupting?
More likely it was evidence that those)
U.S. papers were able to pay their own!
Viet Nam transportation costs, repliedi
Marks. In any case, he repeated, thet
USIA has nothing to do with inviting U.S
newsmen to visit Viet Nam. It operates '
only abroad-where it is presumably;
trying as hard as .possible to open for-eign minds to U.S, problems and policies.,!...
Approved For Release 1999/09/17 : CIA-RDP75-00149 R000200880006-1