To Be Credible We Must Be Truthful.

To Be Credible We Must Be Truthful.

I Have Said, And I Believe, That Potentially We Have In This Country A Free Enterprise System Of Radio And Television Which Is Superior To Any Other. But To Achieve Its Promise, It Must Be Both Free And Enterprising. There Is No Suggestion Here That Networks Or Individual Stations Should Operate As Philanthropies. But I Can Find Nothing In The Bill Of Rights Or In The Communications Act Which Says That They Must Increase Their Net Profits Each Year, Lest The Republic Collapse.

We Hardly Need To Be Reminded That We Are Living In An Age Of Confusion - A Lot Of Us Have Traded In Our Beliefs For Bitterness And Cynicism Or For A Heavy Package Of Despair, Or Even A Quivering Portion Of Hysteria. Opinions Can Be Picked Up Cheap In The Market Place While Such Commodities As Courage And Fortitude And Faith Are In Alarmingly Short Supply.

This Instrument [radio] Can Teach. It Can Illuminate, Yes, And It Can Even Inspire. But It Can Do So Only To The Extent That Humans Are Determined To Use It To Those Ends. Otherwise It's Nothing But Wires And Lights In A Box.

It Is Well To Remember That Freedom Through The Press Is The Thing That Comes First. Most Of Us Probably Feel We Couldn't Be Free Without Newspapers, And That Is The Real Reason We Want The Newspapers To Be Free.