WASHINGTON STAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-01022R000100180004-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 3, 1998
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: May 20, 1961
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2001/03/06 : CIA-RDP83-0102200100180004-1
mn n e'v
Surprise to Editors
Is
W :+e House eve t resident Kennedy has proposed
""
e
inn
h
em . _= u
that newspapers select a representative to advise t
information which might affect national security. But a num-
ber of prominent editors say they: heard no such specific
terday' the' President suggested
at, a meeting with a -group of
editors May 9- that the press
"might want to appoint some-
one in whom it would have
case questions involving na-
tional- security come up-
'
s remarks were
Mr. Salinger
mare when he was asked about
1 The - Globe story said +Mt. -
newspaperg `-appoint someoft
ozi publication of information
which might affect security.
The adviser would be briefed
by the Government on all mat-
hers of national security.
No Specific Proposal
Benjamin M. McXelway,
editor of The star and presi-.'
dent of the Associated Press,
said in -a statement that Mr.:
Kennedy made no specific pro-
posals at the May 9 meeting,.
attended by Mr. McKelway
and other editors.
Mr. ivlc telway's statement
ksaid;
"If the President made T
such proposal as 'that outlined
by Mr:. Salinger, he did nit
f
WASHINGTON STAR - 24 May 1961
make it to the committee o
newspapermen, who called on
him May 9 at the White House.
"As I recall it, the President
made some casual references to
the idea of establishing an
In New York, Mark Ferree,
vice president of Scripps-HOW-
and newspapers and president
of the -American Newspaper
Publishers Association, said he
had no comment beyond a
tatemerit the newspaper rep-
resentatives issued after their
meeting with Mr. Kennedy.
That statement was signed ;
by Mr. -Ferree and by Felix R.
McKnight, executive editor of
the Dallas (Tex.) Times-Her-
d and president of the Ameri-
van Society of Newspaper
itors.
The statert~ent said the Gov-
ernrhent and the `press com-
mittee would continue to review
the subject of the press and
national security and would
meet-again in several months.
In Dallas, Mr, McKnight said
yesterday: -
"At ; no time . did President
Kennedy propose censorship in
his White House meeting with
the editors and publishers.
"One brief reference wa
made concerning possibilif
advisory center for infof faA-
Itioninvolving national serer.-
but the President did not
submit it. as a firm proposal
or offer a blueprint for its:
operation. .
Urges Public Statement
autl ority of some sort empow- Lee Hills, executive editor of
ered to answer queries from the Detroit Free Press and
newspapers as to' whether ino Miami Herald and a -director
formation they planned to of ASNE
also attended the
,
print would violate security.
"He did not propose, however, meietin ashington, Mr. Hills
to 'establish any such Machin- said:
ery and the newspapermen of- "If President Kennedy wishes
fered no comment on the idea. to propose a security informa-
Had the President advanced tion screening plan such as out-
such a groposal, it is my Im- lined by Mr. Salinger, I think
pression some member of the he should do so publicly and
newspaper committee - would ~ tell how individual censorship
have suggested that.e nee by thousands of editors and
that
n World War II demonstrated broadcasters would be effective
that no form of voluntary cen- _ unless the Government also sets
sorship would be effective with- up strict censorship at the bor-
n
Further, Mr. Hills said, 'the
President made no direct pro_-
posal to the committee. He did
make one casual reference to
the. possibility of some kind of
advisory center on security
matters but did not discuss it
or refer to it again . - .."
Frank H. Bartholomew, pres
ident of United Press Interna-
tional, said in a statement:
"It was my feeling at the con-
clusion of the meeting that a
program for channelizing Wash-
ington news concerning mili-
tary and defense. matters is by
no means a dead issue in the
President's mind. - I did not feel
the watter was a closed issue as
the first meeting adjourned."
Discussion Recalled
D. Tennant Bryan, publisher
of Richmond Newspapers, Inc., -
and one of the newspapermen
present at the conference, is-
sued the following statement
last night:
"For more than an hour, we
discussed fully with the Presi-
dent the responsibility of the
daily newspaper press for the
protection of national security.
It was agreed that-in the ab-
sence of a declaration by the
President of a state of na-
tional emergency-there was
no necessity for the creation
of a czar or monitor to guide
editors in questions of security.
"It is hard for me to under-
stand how Pierre Salinger, who
was present throughout our
meeting with the President and
who participated in the draft-
ing of the joint statement that
followed the meeting, could
say seriously that the President
made such a proposal.
"Of course, we stand ready
to renew our study of the prob-
lem whenever the President
feels it necessary."
The May 9 meeting came as
a follow-up to a speech Mr.
Kennedy made to the Ameri-:
can Newspaper Publishers As-
sociation April 27 in New York.
He suggested the press con-
sider self-censorship in a deal-
ing with matters that might af-
feet security. -
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