The Press: Whose Press Is Free? (Cont'd)

From the Russian press, which argues that only a controlled press like itself can really be free, came another blast at the U.S. press. The magazine New Times (née War and the Working Classes) wanted to convince its readers that the U.S. newsmen who are demanding entry into Eastern Europe will "flood the pages of their papers with fabricated sensations."

New Times, trying to damn the U.S. out of its own mouth, quoted first that old press baiter, Interior Secretary Harold Ickes: "When editors and publishers do not publish information or opinions which are extremely important for the interests of society as a whole, when editors distort events to serve special interests, and when they fabricate canards to blacken or eliminate unfavorable political candidates, then I the press deserves the severest criticism and condemnation."

Then the Russian editors dug deep into the files, came up with an editorial freely translated from the Wall Street Journal: "This newspaper is a private enterprise and has no duty to the public. . . . Social interests do not play any role whatever for this newspaper [which is] . . . the private property of its owner, who sells ready-made merchandise at his own risk." The date: Jan. 20, 1925.