Word: newsmen
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American prestige, caused by the troubles facing the present Saigon and Phnom-Penh governments. The Secretary told newsmen traveling with him aboard the shuttle that both Arabs and Israelis had brought up the unavoidable question of the long-range credibility of U.S. commitments. Indeed, one Israeli diplomat last week confirmed the fact that "the cloud of Viet Nam increases our intransigence." The Syrian Baath party newspaper Al Baath, with Israel obviously in mind, crowed that "the U.S. is not a reliable friend." But most diplomatic experts doubted that the problems of Indochina had any real impact on Kissinger...
Colby's request immediately created a dilemma for the newsmen. Each organization had to decide whether to withhold knowledge from the public of a secret Government operation or publish a story that, as Colby argued, might damage the nation's defenses. In short, the press was face to face with an old question: When does the right of the people to know end and the need to protect national security begin...
Last week Reagan excoriated the press for being irresponsible in its revelation of the CIA operation. But most newsmen side with the Rosenthal "case by case" approach. Explains Benjamin C. Bradlee, executive editor of the Washington Post...
Studiously Indifferent. Even the routes of retreat, moving around and getting word back were problems for the newsmen. In palmier days American troops had provided helicopters, telephone links and logistical support. Now the South Vietnamese army ran the show, and it was studiously indifferent. When some commercial flights within the country were suspended, newsmen had to turn to charter planes. Said NBC'S TV News vice president, Richard Fischer: "We are totally in the hands of the various crooks who run charter services...
However, in the confusion there was, surprisingly, no censorship or harassment of reporters by the Thieu regime -at least for the moment. Such freedom was a marked change from the secret-police tactic of beating up Western newsmen covering demonstrations, or the possibility that the Information Ministry might not renew the visa of any reporter writing an unfavorable story. It was almost old home week for the press in Saigon. But the shadow of defeat darkened the occasion...