Permissiveness in Saigon

Until the bloody November coup in South Viet Nam, Saigon's daily newspapers existed entirely on palace whim. It was an iron whim. During his last three years in office, President Diem revoked the licenses of a dozen papers that, for one reason or another, had offended the presidential sensibilities. But where the Diem regime concentrated on whipping the press into line, the new junta government seems eager to flood the country with newspapers. Last week 44 dailies were publishing in Saigon--and the government has received 126 other license applications.

Most likely, all the applications will be granted as part of a calculated government attempt to show a permissive face to the press. Not all the new papers can survive, even in Saigon where a daily paper with 3,000 to 5,000 circulation can show a profit. But the new junta leaders appear willing to let everyone try. They have also largely redeemed their pledge to end press controls. Only papers printed in English and French must now pass even pro forma censorship.

Nor have Saigon's papers suffered much from official reprisals. In six weeks, only two dailies have been shut down. Their offense: printing a picture of a Viet Nam beach scene in which the bathing beauty, shown with a male companion, was identified as Madame Nhu. Since the picture was five years old and so murky as to defy identification of the subjects, many another Saigon publisher felt that the suspension was only an appropriate resnonse to a palpable attempt at discrediting the madame and her companion, an Indian delegate to the International Control Commission. Both papers resumed publication in a week.

South Viet Nam is still a long way from press freedom, just as the country's papers are still a long way from deserving it. Saigon's newly amplified press voice continues to speak with its familiar timidity. This was best exemplified by the opening editorial in the city's new English-language daily, which read in part: "The Saigon Daily News has no link with the government. It will not be an opposition paper either."

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