A Free and Responsible Press
"In December 1942, Henry R. Luce of Time, Inc. suggested to President Robert M. Hutchins of the University of Chicago an inquiry into the freedom of the press: both its present state and future prospects. President Hutchins selected a dozen scholars to serve with himself on a Commission on Freedom of the Press. Their conclusions now published mark an event in the history of American journalism.
For the first time an examination of the performance of the press has been undertaken by a highly competent, independent body with adequate resources. They spent three years and $200,000 of Mr. Luce’s money, then $15,000 more that President Hutchins dug out of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
They considered freedom of the press in terms of a responsible press, and they came out with the warning that only a responsible press can remain free. Failure of the press to meet the needs of a society dependent on it for information and ideas is the greatest danger to its freedom, the Commission finds.
In answer to the question "Is the freedom of the press in danger?" is a flat "Yes." But the reasons do not echo the familiar assumption of the publishers that freedom of the press is their proprietary right to act as irresponsibly as they please.
The Commission’s reasons are:
As the importance of communication has increased its control has come into fewer hands.
The few in control have failed to meet the needs of the people.
Press practices at times have been so irresponsible that if continued society is bound to take control for its own protection.
The citizen also has a right(to truthful information on public affairs), the Commission asserts. "No democracy will indefinitely tolerate concentration of private power, irresponsible and strong enough to thwart the democratic aspirations of the people. If these giant agencies of communication are irresponsible, not even the First Amendment will protect their freedom from government control. The Amendment will be amended."
This is an urgent warning to the interests in control of the press. It is going to be a hard one to brush off or forget as so many criticisms of less weight have been brushed off and ignored. "
The Hutchins Commission Turns 50: Recurring Themes in Today's Public and Civic Journalism
"Of equal importance with reportorial accuracy are
the identification of fact as fact and opinion as opin-
ion, and their separation, so far as possible. This is
necessary all the way from the reporter's file, up
through the copy and makeup desks and editorial
offices, to the final, published product. The distinc-
tion cannot, of course, be made absolute. There is no
fact without a context and no factual report which is
uncolored by the opinions of the reporter. But mod-
ern conditions require greater effort than ever to
make the distinction between fact and opinion. In a
simpler order of society published accounts of events
within the experience of the community could be
compared with other sources of information. Today
this is usually impossible. The account of an isolated
fact, however accurate in itself, may be misleading
and, in effect, untrue.
The greatest danger here is in the communication
of information internationally /The press now bears a
responsibility in all countries, and particularly in
democratic countries, where foreign policies are
responsive to popular majorities, to report interna-
tional events in such a way that they can be under-
stood. It is no longer enough to report the fact truth-
fully. It is now necessary to
report the truth about the
fact. "