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Show LITTLE CHATS on PUBLIC NOTICE Copyrifht 19fi0 By James E. Pollard The People's Right One of the important books of 1950's was "The People's Right to Know." It was written by the late Dr. Harold L. Cross, a leading lead-ing attorney and for some years on the staff of the Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University. As its foreword pointed point-ed out, the book was In reality a report of the American Society of Newspaper Editors which sponsored the study. This 400 page book has to do with the status of legal access to the public records and proceedings pro-ceedings in the United States. It deals with various aspects of what the book calls "the never-won never-won struggle for a maximum of basic freedoms in a free society." Concerted attention has been focused fo-cused upon this problem In recent re-cent years by a number of agencies, agen-cies, both state and national. In wartime and under the security se-curity conditions necessary even during the cold war, there has been a tendency to go beyond necessity In withholding information infor-mation from the public. Some of this has resulted from overzeal-ousness overzeal-ousness on the part of the armed services. Some has grown out of the tendency of bureaucracy to protect Itself, and. In so doing, to make its own ground rules. But as a result of the efforts of Dr. Cross and others, some progress has been made in breaking down the fences erected around legitimate legiti-mate Information. Tublic notice, or legal advertising, adver-tising, is another aspect of the people's right to know. It Is for the protection of their rights, both personal and collective. (Whether it has to do with tax .'rates, a special election, or set- tling an estate, the principal Is the same. The newspaper. In turn, performs a public service in publishing public notices. They are part of the legal ma-chinery ma-chinery of helping to insure the people's right to know. |
