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Show ---M The Entertained American Dom ne can hardt responsible 1 Newsweek i p,,y m fom, Si hese !jublic pSa 3i domestic and ? 'i THEN where th 12' re'gn, is thorn cM't:c V and unwinSci, 2g: ,a,ld informed ' , S'-legislative S'-legislative and 2 Ur t&! lives? d,ud,repr,i;:;; "iqrfw Saining so ; reader he icpl&Th ? hlS audience with ? ky "? i aura of J entertains. Meanwhi c mounts of more it , , always know it, is it,)rNiil same time. THAT THE r,?pMslhF ncongruous with the & "Jeal. Jefferson alwlv J: -or said hpdfcMhitfcL Bv SANDY GILMOUR i Thomas Jefferson once said if he had to choose between government govern-ment without newspapers or newspapers news-papers without government he "would not hesitate" to choose the latter. THAT WAS some time ago, before be-fore gunsmoke was spelled with a capital "G." Ben Franklin, not James Reston, was widely admired admir-ed and there was a newspaper "on the stands" about once a week, not daily. After dinner, time was devoted to drinking, book reading,' family gathering or sleep, not television. Walter Kronkite, Chet Huntley and Douglas Edwards Ed-wards were virtually unheard of. Jefferson believed in an aristocracy of soils, that each person, especially if he owned land, would feel a pail of government gov-ernment and would be constantly constant-ly alert, curious, literate and attentive. A kind of .natural law seemed to prevail in that vast American wilderness wil-derness and Jefferson had the highest faith in the common man: over the long run, man would, without doubt, formulate the best policies of government, make the soundest decisions and would always al-ways act in his country's best interests. . .. I WONDER h o w ' Jefferson would view this- notion today. True, we are now an urban nation, na-tion, not too many of us are "men of the soil. ".and perhaps those of us who live or have lived in complex com-plex cities have never really grasped the feeling of owning a part of America. One feds a sort of helplessness when he's in a million or eight million standing amid the obvious com plexity of such a city as New York or St. Louis or Chicago. Today, even if a citizen is interested in-terested in Washington's activities, activi-ties, his efforts to gather firsthand first-hand information on government are generally met in vain. Even if he could, is it possible or at all realistic to attempt to understand and evaluate events of our federal fede-ral government? And once such an understanding is approached what can he do? Jack Anderson, inside-doper and sidekick to Drew Pearson said during Challenge Week the American people would rather be entertained than informed. Jefferson must have sighed a sigh of exasperation and frustration frus-tration in his grave. Wo would only have to show the great statesman and President that, alas, the Beverly Hillbillies do indeed craw larger audiences that Waiter Kronkite, that people know more about. .Sonny Liston than. Barry Goldwau - that citizens citi-zens can recite more statistics on football teams than thn t-x cut. ' JEFFERSON might recall his qualifier, that under his ideal, newspapers must fulfill their responsibility re-sponsibility to the 'people. Still, wotsn naunr'f form themselves provided r news was readily avail;;,)', newspapers. CertaHv thf ,," media lias a resporrf)i;;.y i,'. . liably inform and Viterpre one can hardly, expect in-side in-side of more base motiu; circulation and financial reva to have to prumoie a aa. about "overmen! with tht rican people, who, theurelai; are their own eovemors ' ' It is eay enough to ;. t - vision is responsibly for te i utKitiveness or sMluv K! zines and . newspapers, or radio programming. But list f f!- who are the Rnvenwau ultimately held rcpaibbiloii-i! funning themc!b. If they so if aire, appropriate media 3 s spond, meeting the dcimnd. If the people da not o b ; the consequences will k trous" and rerrifying.'ar.J the s vie 'Seven Days in May' i' have been more valuable !c informing than it? wrljire |