Direct from the President

Ever since presidential press conferences were put on a regular basis by Woodrow Wilson, reporters have been hampered by some form of restriction preventing them from quoting the President directly. There was good reason for the precaution. It helped protect the President from slips of the tongue that might later embarrass him or the U.S. During the Roosevelt Administration, a standard rule was put into effect that was followed for more than 20 years: newsmen may paraphrase what the President says, but may not quote him directly. Last week the rule was changed. Press Secretary James C. Hagerty announced that all of last week's conference (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS) could be broadcast from the official tape recording. The ruling meant reporters could quote Ike directly in stories.

Hagerty, who in the past has occasionally given permission for brief portions of the press conference to be quoted directly, made it clear that not every press conference would be treated that way in the future. But "from time to time," he said, such permission would be granted. In practice. Hagerty will presumably decide after every conference whether direct quotation is advisable. This may create problems for wire services and papers that have already put out stories paraphrasing the President. They will have to revise their stories into direct quotes if Hagerty decides to allow broadcasts of the conference. But Hagerty, who is convinced the Administration should make better use of radio and TV, is likely to give permission often.

Many newsmen, especially those working for radio and TV, hailed the new ruling as a step in the direction of bringing the President in closer touch with the people, hoped that soon the conferences could be filmed for TV. But others deplored it as a move toward nullifying the value of the press conference by turning it into a show. Said the New York Times: "The widest dissemination of news is all to the good. [But] there is the danger that the participants will become mere actors in a gigantic show, and that goes both for newspapermen who ask the questions and the President who answers them."

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