Is the U.S. press competently doing its job of keeping its readers informed? Last week, Editor Erwin Canham of the Christian Science Monitor (circ. 174,624) answered with a blunt no. Before the National Association of Radio News Directors in Manhattan, "Spike" Canham declared that the failure of the newspapers and the radio to fulfill their responsibilities has caused a "crisis in confidence."
"I believe that the public's mistrust of what they read in the newspapers and hear over the radio," said Canham, "has grown to ... a degree which is alarming to the integrity and future of our function . . ....