New York, Aug. 25—In recent weeks, the managing editor of the New York Times, Mr. A. M. Rosenthal, has argued forcefully the merits of his reporter Myron Farber’s refusing to permit the judge at a New Jersey murder trial to look at Farber’s notes. The controversy is interesting, and responsible men can opine in favor of the judge, who points out that a man is being tried for murder, or in favor of the reporter, who points out that the confidential notes of a reporter must remain confidential or else the freedom of the press is affected.
The uproar over the imprisonment of Farber and the fines levied against the Times occupied the headlines in New York until the headlines stopped appearing. Suddenly it became a matter not of a decline in the intensity of investigative journalism because of the fear of prurient judicial intervention. The matter became: no journalism of any sort. Why? Because seven unions, including a union of editorial employees, declined to cross the picket line thrown up by a union of pressmen striking against technological progress.
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