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Show ir NATINAL NEWSPAPER WEEK EDITORIAL O. I Freedom In Our Hands Jerry W. Friedheim Executive Vice President and General Manager, American Newspaper Publishers Association In America, each of us holds freedom always al-ways in our hands. We have done so since our founding. We do so today. We are determined to pass freedom along to future generations. It is important to remember that a free press and a free society are inseparable. A free press is a free people's first bulwark against tyranny. A free press protects the personal freedoms we all cherish. Without the light of free and open public communication, government can move unhindered along paths to increased abridgements abridge-ments of personal freedoms. In America, we hold in our hands not only our own freedom, but in large measure that of the whole free world as well. Freedom loving people everywhere strive to achieve the unique uni-que breadth of freedom we enjoy in America. Yet, barely 35 of the world's population lives today in free societies with access to a free flow of information. Freedom cannot be achieved or sustained without free communications. Conversely, a strong public desire for freedom in a single country could not long survive as an island in a world of totalitarianism. Although all governments govern-ments talk of freedom, most would use their powers if they could to strengthen themselves often in the name of defending the people. Such actions preempt the freedom of the people. peo-ple. Today, concepts of freedom are under attack, at-tack, and the free press is denied access to information in-formation in many countries. The challenge has been stated by Soviet journalists: "The Constitution of the U.S.S.R. provides pro-vides both freedom of speech and freedom of the press, which are ensured in practice by putting the workers and their organizations in charge not only of the supply of paper and the use of printing print-ing plants, but of publishing works, newspapers, periodicals, radio stations and television transmitters." True enough! All are controlled by the Communist Party, the State. It is not the kind of freedom we cherish in America. Today, the leaders in many countries are choosing between bet-ween these differing definitions of "freedom." In America, we enjoy press freedom. The world issue seems remote. It is not. America's is the leading light of freedom in the world. In America, we hold freedom in our hands and, not only our own. |