Mr. Lewis and Radio Free Europe

If something is not done about it soon, the war between Fulton Lewis Jr. and Radio Free Europe may have unwelcome consequences. For one thing, the issues, as time goes by, are becoming so tangled as to make it more and more difficult to get to the bottom of them. Tempers, moreover, are hot. Radio Free Europe has been, and continues to be, under fire from other quarters. It was widely alleged a year ago that RFE’s galvanizing broadcasts brought on the Hungarian uprising, and the subsequent carnage. In any case, the danger is that anti-anti-Communists and neutralists will exploit the situation to bring on results that neither Mr. Lewis nor RFE would welcome. It is time for anti-Communists to suggest a course of action; one which, because it is fair and constructive, might compel the support and cooperation of the two camps. We intend to make such a proposal here, after examining the nature of the problem.

Fulton Lewis Jr. began to broadcast his criticisms on October 31, 1957, some eight years after Radio Free Europe was founded. Mr. Lewis does not object, he has reminded his audience, to the “ideals” of Radio Free Europe; but he feels that, for a number of reasons, the organization is not living up to its posted principles. Night after night, week after week, month after month, he has been giving reasons to support his central contentions that Radio Free Europe is being gravely mismanaged, and that the line it takes in its broadcasts is ideologically unsatisfactory. Unquestionably he has undermined confidence in the organization on the part of most of his listeners and readers, and they are numerous. What is the objective of Mr. Lewis? Reform, compelled by a congressional investigation.

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If something is not done about it soon, the war between Fulton Lewis Jr. and Radio Free Europe may have unwelcome consequences. For one thing, the issues, as time goes by, are becoming so tangled as to make it more and more difficult to get to the bottom of them. Tempers, moreover, are hot. Radio Free Europe has been, and continues to be, under fire from other quarters. It was widely alleged a year ago that RFE’s galvanizing broadcasts brought on the Hungarian uprising, and the subsequent carnage. In any case, the danger is that anti-anti-Communists and neutralists will exploit the situation to bring on results that neither Mr. Lewis nor RFE would welcome. It is time for anti-Communists to suggest a course of action; one which, because it is fair and constructive, might compel the support and cooperation of the two camps. We intend to make such a proposal here, after examining the nature of the problem.

Fulton Lewis Jr. began to broadcast his criticisms on October 31, 1957, some eight years after Radio Free Europe was founded. Mr. Lewis does not object, he has reminded his audience, to the “ideals” of Radio Free Europe; but he feels that, for a number of reasons, the organization is not living up to its posted principles. Night after night, week after week, month after month, he has been giving reasons to support his central contentions that Radio Free Europe is being gravely mismanaged, and that the line it takes in its broadcasts is ideologically unsatisfactory. Unquestionably he has undermined confidence in the organization on the part of most of his listeners and readers, and they are numerous. What is the objective of Mr. Lewis? Reform, compelled by a congressional investigation.