Show NV no right minded candidate will antagonize newsmen by BAUKHAGE news analyst and commentator convention HALL philadelphia the notes for this column are inspired by a view from the extreme left wing of the democratic platform I 1 do not mean that figuratively but literally I 1 am sitting in the left hard corner of the wooden platform filled with the brass hats of the party and their friends who are gathered together to nominate a democratic candidate for president of the united states the scene so very different from other political conventions I 1 have attended back to well never mind how far farl back I 1 have in my minds eye a dif ferent picture it is a platform rl vi viewed ewed from just about this angle but instead of this high ros trum protruding i into n t 0 the hall from the middle of the wide plat form there is 4 just a wooden 4 box with boards atop it rough hewn rails to fence oft off the speakers from the shouting delegates the name of abraham lincoln is being put in nomination this vision let me hasten to add is purely vision ary rry I 1 did NOT cover that conven tion lion I 1 saw a picture of it in a book 0 the scene I 1 have been watching Is no more placid that demo brats love a donnybrook is an old saying no smoke tilled filled rooms no private fights for them rather a free tor for all in a wide field even if they know what the final outcome is to be in advance but frankly I 1 have been thinking about something else as I 1 sit here in this tropical heat that is in the moments when I 1 have been able to think between the flashing of the light which is the silent bell on the telephone beside the mike I 1 am sharing with earl godwin the flash at of the light on the phone means someone in the ABC booth high above us wants one or the other of us to jump in and give a brief word picture of what is transpiring in our immediate neighborhood for we are in the thick of things hei heie e nd and believe me sometimes things are pretty thick what I 1 have been thinking about Is the lot of the newsman and the small thanks he gets for his pain and suffering in a political year be tides sides being hauled and mauled by the public his public as the listen ers of a commentator are referred to besides that he is under slant wise attack by the candidates when they forget themselves nobody either the partisan lis beners or the politicos ever thinks the columnist commentator or reporter is being fair unless he Is boosting his side candidates when they are in pos session of their full senses don dont t go around arousing the wrath of 0 the newsmen even franklin roose velt who was forever needling the newspapers always carefully ex that it was the publishers ind editors and headline writers who twisted the news not the men who wrote or broadcast it but sometimes candidates slip and as we sit perspiring under the bieg lights and trying our abst to ell the truth without malice and with as much charity as possible about what is going on before us we recall without too much rancor the statement of the candidate who Is not being unanimously nominated on his recent trip he made one off the cuff remark which prompted tei him to send that offending piece of haberdashery to the laundry imme after he had thought it over president truman truma opined to one rear platform audience that it was almost impossible to get the facts definitely before the public be cause there are certain people in the newspaper business and tain people in the radio business who have a distorted view of what the people ought to know and what the people ought to think it might have been better if he had worded his plaint in the lan guage of an earlier candidate much earlier john quincy adams who at least narrowed his charges against the press to a few papers even though he name them specia icalla this offered a sop to the rest however president truman in a previous outburst on that same western trip was specific too he attacked tacked it the chicago tribune and the spokane spokesman review in lambasting the tribune he was fol lowing in franklin roosevelt s foot steps you may recall that on one ac Dc casion when was asked a particularly sharp question by a tribune reporter he replied oh oli tell bertie robert mccormick pub lisher fisher hes seeing things under the bed mr truman s attack on the trib une came about this way wh ie tra velling through washington state i a reporter put to him a question which although it seemed guileless night have concealed a barb any how the president interpreted it that way when senator magnuson re healed that the reporter asking the question represented the spokes man review the president knows that az part ut of f the country and the sentiments ex pressed by its publications it was then that he said the spokesman review and the chicago tribune were the worst newspapers in the country the tribune having the edge that was about as sharp a thrust as a president ever has launched at the press in modern times it was in that connection that he also called the present congress the worst in our history later amending it to second worst it would have been kinder to the rest of us if mr air truman had stuck to the specific instead of adopting the sweeping generalize gener aliza tion quoted earlier some people in the newspaper and radio bust busi ness etc presidents since the tune time of jo in quincy adams have not been shy about airing their views concerning the fourth estate but adams while not specific at least narrowed tha the field of his complaint to eight or 10 newspapers of extensive ciraula tion published in various parts of the union acting in close conce t with each other and pouring forth X PRESIDENT TRUMAN rear platform opinion continual streams of slander upon my character and reputation public and private no falsehood is too broad and no insinuation too base for them president cleveland also had his press troubles and history admits he got a rough deal one summer when he was governor of new york and was sweating it out at albany new york newspapers reported him as taking his ease at newport sometimes the newsmen do let their spleen get into their report lag ing but tor for the most part they follow Kip kipling lings s advice and go on the basis that you cant do a good job unless you keep your head when all about you are los ing theirs and blaming it on you television may achieve what the less vivid reports conveyed by print or the spoken word cannot hcan lican leaders realizing this sent out some pretty strict orders on that subject before their recent conven tion in this city the orders revealed by that all seeing all hear ing monitor of stage screen and radio variety delegates were to d not to be seen by the eye of the television camera and thereby mil lions of other eyes talking to mem bers of delegations from other states lest the suspicious public smell a deal in the making if they must huddle they were told to huddle unseen delegates also were warned not to assume awkward positions on the floor lest tele viewers deduce that handsome as handsome doesn t and most of all they were warned not to be seen leav ing early and coming late not overly hopeful that orders would me followed monitors were ap pointed since I 1 t see much of the video product because as a re porter I 1 had to keep my eyes on the tele viewers themselves I X cant can t say how well the republicans comported themselves when televised nor can I 1 assay how well the democrats cur bently in the spotlight profited by what they saw of republican video vide 0 performances last month and it if either perform with all the grace and decorum nobody can be blamed but themselves the cameraman gets off easy the writ er and the broadcaster still will have to duck the slings and arrows of the outraged unfortunate A recent survey showed that radio listeners like hymns most probably a delevis on survey would show that television ers prefer hers |