Show It— TfctMtraMJMml U Utah Wednesday April 25 17J Nixon And Press Develop ‘Natural Enemy’ Condition By BRUCE BIOSSAT (Third m a SeriesJ fairly sizable briefing room It was not televised “live” but filming was permitted and key excerpts on such subjects as amnesty for draft evaders and his alleged preference for John Connally as his 1976 successor made the evening television news WASHINGTON— NBA )— Leading Washington newsmen eay “news access" to President Nixon and key people within the White House and elsewhere in his is severely administration limited and getting worse Veterans of the corps find no parallel in recent history The grumbling among reporters in the capital has become almost universal One seasoned man described the mood of the White House “regulars" as glum He says that especially in the last two or three months what good news sources he had at high and middle echelons have gradually dried up Officials simply are not returning his tele- calls let alone telling Chone He even complains that press secretaries in some agencies are not calling back In one such case at a very high level there was a response— three days after the reporter's query By the administration's own tally the President in his entire first term held Just 28 press conferences That is an average just a bit higher than one every two months But there have been times when the gaps between such sessions nave extended for several months Newsmen are doing more than simply muttering among themselves Jointly with American University a "committee on professions questions" in the National Press Club has been study-pres- s freedom in the ing Nixon administration for six months shows But basically Klein's argument fell before history One meticulous newsman dug back and found that every president from Franklin 0 Roosevelt on including Nixon himself had met with the press while some sort of crucial negotiations were in progress Furthermore except for Nixon's latest press conference I could find no top reporters who believe key sources have opened up since the Vietnam ceasefire They contend things are as tight as ever This whole issue however needs to be put into wide perspective You can reach back and find that Roosevelt met with the press twice a week Harry Truman about once a week Dwight Eisenhower perhaps once every two weeks or more John Kennedy less frequently but still fairly often Yet these surface comparisons are deceptive Experienced White House watchers believe that no president no matter how often the press gets at him is ever forced by such access to tell newsmen truly crucial facts pertaining to decisions he has made or is about to make —or even to express his attitudes and learning Except for accidental slips he is always in control of the flow of information What newsmen learn is seldom more than he wants them to learn Indeed there are times when they do not ask him what he is willing even eager to tell them P""1 by the cJub Sj governors characterized Present situation as a “serious problem" The final report due in less than two months and to be made Eublic seems certain to be critical In Herbert Klein January An interim report ap- the President's “director of communications” told a group of newsmen the tightening of news sources One politician studyfrom the White House ing theyoung White House rays: on down was related to "The presidency is basic“delicate negotiations" over a secretive office I ally peace in Vietnam He pre- think it has to be" dicted that things would His point: The kind a “8ned pact WASHINGTON will determine the most impor(UPI) of needed for nMQ " When the Watergate incident tant aspect of the Watergate sensible productive decisionAs if to support this forebroke 10 months ago nobody caae: How badly the Presl-ha- d requires privacy to the temerity to ask dent’s personal prestige and cast Nixon Just recently making be free and open When President Nixon whether he credibility and uttfawHy his held a quickly summoned newsmen get wind of any was personalty Involved in it news conference in Press authority to of this process they And on Aug when ha told dnmagwi Secretary Ronald Ziegler's Srt to report it in terms of Denials Indicate Tragic Dimensions - a newsman that an investigation into the incident showed that “no one in the White House staff no one in this administra- tion presently employed was involved in this very bizarre taKdent" that seemed to cover himalao But last week shortly after he discloeed that major new developments had been discovered in the caae he sent his press spokesman out to say that these earlier statements and the whole litany of denials from various other nkniniitra-tio-n officials were now “inoperative" So it waa that earlier this week in Key Biacayne Fla when another presidential spokesman Bitty denied that Nixon had prior knowledge of the illegal acta committed in his behalf —when he Mid in other words that the President of the United States had not committed a crime -- it was as much as anything This else demonstrates the tragic dimensions of the Watergate scandal Already it has claimed as its victim L Patrick Gray III whose nomination as FBI director was withdrawn by Nixon when senators objected to the way he investigated the caae Seven other persons have gone to Jail and it's quite likely more will follow Additionally it is expected in the near future to force a major reshuffling of the White House staff and the departure of some of the major wielders of national power over the past four years The President is faced with the humiliating spectacle of his most trusted aides and political advisers— the smoothly running team that last November gave him the greatest political victory of his long career -p- men — and finally only the president himself Kenneth O'Donnell top aide to the late President Kennedy once told me: 5" give-and-ta- And though all the windes of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth so Truth be in the field we do injuriously be licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength Let her and Falsehood grapple who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter? “We sit in there hour after hour advising arguing But there finally comes that moment when we all leave the door closes and 'not willing to have them he is alone with the reality know that he and no one else must Kennedy and his men decide” liked most of the press Through the long course corps so found it easy to be of winding down the Viet- open in a way that served nam war I and many other them But his instinct for reporters uncovered ample control and for evidence that top State Dewas as strong as any partment officials concerned Writer David with the war did not know president’s still insists deHalberstam the real meat of Nixon’s spite Kennedy denials that desuccessive cisions until they were an- the late president sought to get him transferred from nounced Vietnam by the New York Newsmen today often conTimes in a period when he trast the “restrictive" news was writing unfavorably policies of the Nixon adminiabout the war stration with what is now the fabled “openness" of the A key difference today Kennedy era Still that comsays one knowledgeable is that the parison is also somewhat deceptive President and his key people generally dislike and disKennedy's press secretary Pierre Salinger told me trust most members of the candidly in 1962 that a top corps The harsh word highly elfish presidential “contempt" often is used to motive lay behind their brand their attitude practice of giving wide and adds this Consequently easy reporter access both to source don’t see ai “they himself to and Kennedy top advantage in going throui White House aides the little niceties in giving Alleged 1960 vote frauds newsmen a chance to get in Illinois Texas and other stories they would like to places caused some voters have but which the adminito question the legitimacy stration believes would not of Kennedy’s victory over be significant anyway” Nixon Even without that This same man thinks that the closeness of the popular vote left an impression he others in the administration was a “hesitant choice" Said are clamming up because they are taking their cue Salinger: John Milton in “Areopagitica more frequent press conferences That they believe would quickly wipe out the quesbacklog of stored-u-p tions reduce irrelevant inquiries keep the sessions geared to top current news permit the “follow-up- " questioning whose lack so troubles most reporters today A couple of years back a brief effort by a score or more of newsmen to achieve better follow-ucollar under pressure both the Nixon people and other reporters not party to the effort Klein complained to the New York limes that the move smacked of a collusive attempt to entrap the President Nixon knows he must see the press at least occasionally Right now he is experimenting The huge totally televised conference may be dead A recent session held in Ziegler's briefing area for reporters called on 15 minutes' notice and on a “selective" basis is a fresh try Fundamentally though it is an illusion among newsmen that even the widest access will allow them to elicit information about the crucial inner workings of the presidency Presidents are always in real control They are willing to reward a few “friends” with what: may seem like gems of special troop-pullo- “internal conflict” or “confusion” But this particular political figure argues that they are getting only fragments most often misleading because so incomplete Moreover he contends that the net rain for newsmen would not he much better even if they could roam the White House corridors at will They would learn more but still only fragments In fact he insists that many key White House men themselves get only a partial picture- that the vital stage of decisionmaking involves very few - Unemployment Among Vets Shows Decline WASHINGTON (UPI) -U- nemployment among veterans of the Vietnam war era dropped in the first quarter of this year to 58 per cent from 82 per cent in the last quarter of 1972 but still was considerably higher than the overall Jobless rate of 5 per cent the government said today The rate for veterans was well below the 11 per cent level a year ago and a peak of 11 per cent two years ago The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics attributed the drop to an improved Job market and special efforts by government labor and industry to find Jobs for returning servicemen Nixon-watch- “We spent the first six months trying to establish in the public mind that John F Kennedy was really presi- dent" So there were interviews galore special television reports which came so often they began to resemble a commercial series Newsmen got their stories in profusion But clearly they were being “used” in the process of getting wide access They were actors in a drama directed by Kennedy And in truth they probably learned little if anything about the Kennedy administration that he was p er from White House silence rather than perceiving their function as filling the gap with a broader flow of information The President's recent “seeding" of White House men in various agencies is seen by some watchers as partly a device for better managerial control of the bureaucracy and partly a means of smother ing information which would disclose apparent or real conflict both within and among the agencies As far as the President himself is concerned influential newsmen think the worst difficulties might be solved if he simply ' held information Usually they ' and newsmen are acknowledged is natural enemies What marks the Nixon regime is that it limits the information flow better than most of its predecessors And it accepts candidly the role of the press as enemy even to the point of openly penalizing some of the more critical reporters No realistic appraiser thinks any sort of outside pressure will loosen these severe bonds on press freedom (MWSMPIR INTiWRISS ASSN) (NEXT: The Press end - ‘ "" the PublicJ The frosting on the cake is conservation What does the conservation of heat energy have to do with frosting a cake? Not much-unl- ess the cake was baked in a gas oven Natural gas is our most efficient and economical source of heat 'I'his makes gas ideal for cooking since wry little energy is required Using a gas range now actually helps saw heat energy for the future There are other reasons for enjoying a modern gas range now-li- ke the g own With proper pan placement foods bake ewnlv on both racks—ewn in the corners Set at foods stay hot and moist without or drying out And you have your choice between continuous-cleaning and mens even-bakin- Keep-War- m owr-cooki- self-cleani- Scr ihe modern gas ranges in decorator colors at your gas appliance dealer's and engaging leaks to newsmen in a bitter struggle for survival This can only be a source of severe embarrassment and Nixon could not be faulted for trying to hide some of it from counter-charge- s g public view But he 'may face even more severe embarrassment when he addresses the central question: When did he himself learn of these illegal activities and what did he do about them? Despite all the dissembling and evasions of the past 10 months this question has not been answered The response he gives — where he draws the line between covering embarrassment and obstructing Justice — - not Presidents are ublicly trading charges and in 1844 MOUNTAIN FUEL |