Press Freedom Under the Recovery Program

Archive Report

The Free Press Clause in the Newspaper Code

At the outset of their conferences with the Recovery Administration on a code of fair competition for daily newspapers, the publishers made clear their intention to do everything possible to protect the press from the threat of licensing inherent in the provisions of the National Recovery Act. However remote the possibility of an encroachment on the freedom of the press from this source, they considered it essential that the newspaper code make explicit reservation of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Although General Johnson originally opposed this demand, the temporary code approved on August 15, 1933, contained a clause wherein the publishers gave notice that in subscribing to the code they did not ...

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