Hutchins’ Commission

The COMMISSION ON FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

(1942-1947), known as the Hutchins’ Commission

Robert Hutchins

After several years of work, the Commission issued a report that set forth a code of social responsibility for the press, requiring these five basic services :

• a truthful, comprehensive, and intelligent account of the day’s events in a context which gives them meaning;

• a forum for the exchange of comment and criticism;

• the projection of a representative picture of the constituent groups in the society;

• the presentation and clarification of the goals and values of the society;

• full access to the day’s intelligence.

HUTCHINS COMMISSION (1947) RECOMMENDATIONS:

What the government can do:

1. We recommend that the constitutional guarantees of the freedom of the press be recognized as including radio and motion pictures.
2. We recommend that government facilitate new ventures in the communications industry, that it foster the introduction of new techniques, that it maintain competition among large units through the antitrust laws, but that those laws be sparingly used to break up such units, and that, where concentration is necessary in communications, the government endeavor to see to it that the public gets the benefit of such concentration.
3. As an alternative to the present remedy for libel, we recommend legislation by which the injured party might obtain a retraction or a restatement of the facts by the offender or an opportunity to reply.
4. We recommend the repeal of legislation prohibiting expression in favor of revolutionary changes in our institutions where there is no clear and present danger that violence will result from the expression.
5. We recommend that the government, through the media of mass communication, inform the public of the facts with respect to its policies and of the purposes underlying those policies and that, to the extent that private agencies of mass communication are unable or unwilling to supply such media to the government, the government itself may employ media of its own. We also recommend that, where the private agencies of mass communication are unable or unwilling to supply information about this country to a particular foreign country or countries, the government employ mass communication media of its own to supplement this deficiency.

What the press can do:

1. We recommend that the agencies of mass communication accept the responsibilities of common carriers of information and discussion.
2. We recommend that the agencies of mass communication assume the responsibility of financing new, experimental activities in their fields.
3. We recommend that the members of the press engage in vigorous mutual criticism.
4. We recommend that the press use every means that can be devised to increase the competence, independence, and effectiveness of its staff.
5. We recommend that the radio industry take control of its programs and that it treat advertising as it is treated by the best newspapers.

What the public can do:

1. We recommend that nonprofit institutions help supply the variety, quantity, and quality of press service required by the American people.
2. We recommend the creation of academic-professional centers of advanced study, research, and publication in the field of communications. We recommend further that existing schools of journalism exploit the total resources of their universities to the end that their students may obtain the broadest and most liberal training.
3. We recommend the establishment of a new and independent agency to appraise and report annually upon the performance of the press.