Case Study: Editors Slant Stories Little

Dailies and weeklies from Bangor to San Dicgo ran widely differing accounts of the Furry and Kamin hearings conducted by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R. Wis.) in Boston last month.

Even though the bulk of the stories were written from standard releases circulated by the Associated Press, United Press, and International News Service, individual editors cut and slanted stories to fit their requirements, of space and of politics.

The actual difference in coverage was immense. Extremes in stories appeared in the Madison, Wisc. "Wisconsin State Journal," which played all McCarthy's snide asides in indented bold face paragraphs, and the Providence, R.I. "Journal," which headlined an account of the televised hearings with "LIGHTS! CAMERA! INKWELL! McCARTHY'S ON THE AIR," a wide scale of graduated slants in reporting lay.

Faculty Connection

About one-third of the newspapers in the nation headlined the news that Furry and Kamin were on the Harvard faculty. A virtually equal number stressed the fact that Furry was a radar expert while a member of the Communist party. Many headlines mentioned McCarthy either with or without naming the witnesses. All mentioned either Furry's and Kamin's admission of communist activities, or their refusal to give names of Communists they knew, or both. Some newspapers, incidentally, took the opportunity to slur M.I.T. rather than the University because Furry worked on the radar project at that institution rather than here.

Pictures taken at the hearing were for the most part handled unsensationally. This was not, however, always the rule. The Peru, Ind. "Tribune" printed a picture of Kamin gesticulating while testifying and captioned it "Harvard Man Confesses." Roughly 20 small and medium-sized midwestern and western papers printed underneath a sydicated photo of Furry laughing, "Admits He Was Red."

Associated Press Releases

By far the largest group of newspapers all over the country took their stories of the hearing from the Associated Press releases of January 15 and 16. The former release dealt solely with McCarthy's investigation of Furry and Kamin; the latter release covered the testimonies of the ten witnesses from the General Electric Lynn and Everett plants, with sizeable references to the Cambridge savants by way of background. Approximately 30 percent of the newspapers which used the Associated Press stories used only the second release, completely omitting the first one.

Except for local papers and small country dailies in need of copy, most journals gave the story good, but by no means big, treatment. Far western papers, however, often played it down, if they printed it at all.

Quoted Answers

The Associated Press release of January 15 was decidedly lively, especially when compared with the releases of the other wire services. Many of the questions and answers in the trial were quoted directly, as were McCarthy's snide personal comments. Prominently placed were two well remembered quotes, the first addressed to Furry, the second, to the Senator's audience:

"Many have died in the past and if we lose a war in the future it will be because of the lack of loyalty and complete un-morality of people like you," and, "To me it is inconceivable that a university which has had the reputation it (Harvard) has had keeps this creature on, teaching our children."

Almost all small sheets printed the article just as it came from the teletype machine. Those which were forced to cut the story regularly cut the narrative portions and the words of the witnesses, and left most of McCarthy's speeches. This last generalization does not hold true for the South, and much of Oregon and surrounding regions. Here even large newspapers often avoided McCarthy's words and sometimes devoted their space to what Furry and Kamin had to say, as did the Baltimore Evening Sun, for example.

Large papers using the Associated Press releases generally smoothed out a few crudities in the story by rewriting in places; but otherwise, they usually ran it with few changes. Wisconsin papers using the AP were not generally overly pro-McCarthy in their write-ups, though by no means did they try to tone the story down.

In contrast to the AP's release, the story promulgated by the United Press was liberal in sentiment and conservative in style. Although it did not reach so many readers as did the AP version, the UP account was handled in much the same way in the newspapers which used it as was the AP. But this time it was the midwestern papers, particularly those in Ohio and Indiana, which tended to go short on the story. As big a paper as the Pittsburg "Press" built the whole story around Kamin and left out Furry completely. Other papers did the reverse.

Recording the Testimony

Almost no direct quotes were employed. Also, the emphasis was primarily on what happened at the hearings and what testimony was given, not in McCarthy's comments.

It seemed, moreover, that a small but significant number of journals using the United Press were trying to angle their coverage away from the University. At least 25 percent of these papers, including the Detroit "News," overlooked the Furry-Kamin hearing except as an after thought in the story of the GE hearing.

Far-western papers, though terse, were the most liberal papers in the country. Not a few printed only the witnesses' justification of their acts, in addition to the bare essentials of the hearing. Of course, there were exceptions. The Riverside, Cal. "Enterprise" blurted, "INSTRUCTORS DEFY SEN. McCARTHY--HARVARD MEN WON'T BE 'POLITICAL INFORMERS'" above their version of the hearing.

As in the case of AP papers, Southern sheets often refused entirely to quote McCarthy, and Wisconsin journals regularly played up the story.

Even fewer newspapers ran the Inter national News Service story than either AP or UP versions, although, geographically speaking, the INS story appeared is as many parts of the country as any other story. When it appeared, it usually was played medium and omitted Kamin's avowed abandonment of the Communist credo.

The New York "Times," New York "Herald Tribune," and Baltimore daily "Sun" reported the story in person and presented conservative, impartial stories.

Other newspapers using their own sources were less conservative. The Little Rock, Ark. "Gazette" was critical of Kamin throughout most of its story, without printing any of his explanatory statements. The Chicago "Tribune," using its private wire, came up with a story which could have appeared in the New York "Daily News." The Detroit "Free Press," listening in on the same line, ran a much more conventional account.

'Daily Worker' Rhetoric

Unquestionably, the New York "Daily Worker" produced the most rhetorical news. "America's leading fascist employed everything except the jackboot, bayonet, and bludgeon . . .," began its lead paragraph.

The CRIMSON's editorial of January 15 entitled "Mismanaged Heroics," which advised Furry and Kamin to tell the names of Communists whom they knew, was reported by the United Press and appeared in several New England and New York City papers, in addition to the Dayton, Ohio "News" and the Cinciunati Ohio "Post."

Likewise, the CRIMSON's exclusive interview with Furry was either printed or mentioned in at least 15 New England papers and all major New York City papers.