AMERICAN PRESS DEFENDED

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25309, 8 October 1947, Page 7

AMERICAN PRESS DEFENDED

U.N. COMMITTEE’S DEBATE MRS ROOSEVELT REPLIES TO SOVIET (Rec. 7 p.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. 6. Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt, answering the Soviet’s charges of war-mongering by the American press, tofd the United Nations Assembly’s Social Committee: ‘‘lf some parts of the free press system become bad, the remainder will become good, but a controlled pre§s is like an egg—if any part is bad the. whole is bad. “We feel that the advantages of the free press system in the United States and most other countries vastly outweigh the overwhelming disadvantages of the controlled press system. Totalitarian influences should be reduced to a minimum in the press of every country.” Mrs Roosevelt admitted that the American press system had its faults, “but on the whole our press is free.” Mr L. J, C. Beaufort (Netherlands), While opposing a Government-con-trolled press, said that the Netherlands delegation believed that the press should be. in the hands of non-profit-making institutions. The committee postponed voting until to-morrow when Panama insisted that a Czechoslovak amendment be circulated. This amendment, accepted by Russia, calls on the Economic and Social Council to consider the Soviet’s ideas in framing the agenda of the world conference on freedom of information.