Word: censorable
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...hoping thereby to escape from the uncertainty of not knowing what was printable. Actually, the list, couched necessarily in blanket terms, solved few problems for the press. Most of the important news of today comes under its terms and no reporter or editor can check everything back with the censor. It did not relieve newsmen of their main risk, which is not merely of being fined and sent to jail under the Espionage Act, but of being accused of being enemies of their country...
Vaguer was his answer to a more crucial question: What about Congress, which is not subject to censorship? Censor Price classified as "official" the Congressional Record and committee proceedings, but warned against word-of-mouth information from individual Congressmen. (Columnist Frank Kent has suggested that Congressmen's immunity to censorship may put them back into the news spotlight as they have not been for many years...
...Censor Price's own A.P. ran into a concrete censorship problem last week. While other newspapers and wire services vainly besought Navy for confirmation of the torpedoing of a second ship off New York last week, A.P. on its own hook got confirmation from the Coast Guard (now part of the Navy), released the story despite Navy's official declaration that it was "impossible to confirm" the news. Rival newsmen vainly redoubled their frantic appeals for official confirmation. Next day Navy confirmed the sinking, apologized for its "confusion...
...without public criticism. It shared in part the attitude of famed liberal William Allen White's Emporia Gazette. Dropping the syndicated column Washington Merry-Go-Round, Editor White explained: "We. felt the authors, Mr. Pearson and Mr. Allen, were too anxious to print . . . matters which would offend the censor and possibly give aid and comfort to our enemies. . . . These young men are good reporters. They are honest and conscientious but just a shade too enterprising for these troublous times...
This attitude made it clear that Censor Price erred when he praised the press because it "understands the need for temporary sacrifice." Censorship is not a material sacrifice for the press. It is chiefly a sacrifice for those who are kept in the dark, i.e., the public...