Word: reston
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...Reston writes hat while reporters can no longer publish whatever they can get their hands on (military secrets and stategic plans), they should not be pushed into publishing just what the government finds convenient...
...questions Reston neglects to deal with is the recent growth of radical publications, such as Ramparts, aimed explicitly at exposing issues which will embarrass the government. The reporters Reston constantly refers to are writers a la New York Times) who are basically in agreement with our government's aims and thus feel compelled not to print anything which might thwart our foreign policy. But what about the new writers who feel it is their duty to subvert a foreign policy they are fundamentally opposed to. How do they fit into Reston's patern of journalistic restraints on our government. Apparently...
...Reston's more feasible suggestions is that much of the "classified information" that floods into Washington every day should be put at the disposal of the press. Most of the material, Reston says, could be published with no harm done the government. The reason it has remained unavailable is that a myth has grown up that anything sent to the government is top secret...
...Reston is also concerned with the increasing power of the President, not only to make foreign policy decisions, but also to manipulate the news. In the President's eyes, reporters are either to be used or avoided. And Reston points out that the relationship is an unequal one because the President can decide when he makes an announcement, and whom he gives the scoop to--an advantage which allows him to reward one reporter and punish another. The ideal situation, Reston continues, would be to have the President use the press as an educating arm of the government which explained...
...time being, the old official-reporter competition continues: the reporters trying to get the news fast, and the officials trying to use the press to their best advantage. Often, Reston explains, a reporter will break a story about a speech the President has been planning to make, and the President will change the speech to punish the reporter and retain the element of surprise. The same is true of personnel changes in the government. If it is rumored in the press that an official is to be relieved of his duties, it usually prompts the President to keep...