The Handy Club

Even though it is patently absurd to try to legislate freedom of press in a world that, at best, is half slave and half free, the United Nations has been trying to do just that for four years. Twice, U.N. press committees have come a cropper; their proposals would shackle the press rather than free it (TIME, March 10). Last week a third U.N. subcommission passed still another bootless plan. This time it was an "international code of ethics" for the press, drafted by a group of newsmen from all over the world--including the Russians. Sample provisions: "[Newsmen] should check all items of information . . . Rumor and unconfirmed news should be identified . . . the reputation of individuals should be respected . . . and comment on their private lives likely to harm their reputation should not be published unless it serves the public interest . . . Only such tasks as are compatible with the integrity and dignity of the profession should be . . . accepted by personnel of the press . . ."

Minneapolis Tribune Editorial Writer Carroll Binder, U.S. member of the subcommission who has fought similar U.N proposals, resounded the silly note in the new one. Said he: a newsman who ordinarily covers the White House could refuse to report on a three-alarm fire because it was "not dignified" for him to do so. Binder also argued that the whole attempt to write a code was "futile," since few of the countries involved could agree on what press freedom means or even what the "public interest" is. Nevertheless, the code was halfheartedly voted. Binder and the British representative refused to approve it, along with the Soviet Union, which wants a tighter code defining the "main task" of the press as counteracting war propaganda and Fascist ideas. Next big step: a world conference of journalists to approve the code. If it is approved, it will still be only a "recommendation" for journalists, not a law. But any nation that wants to bat down newsmen will find the code a handy club.

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