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Kennedy was also challenged on his call for greater discretion from the press in the handling of news that might impinge on national security. "This is indeed a time for self-discipline," said Frank H. Bartholomew, president of United Press International. "But reference to unauthorized disclosures brings up the point of who is going to do the authorizing—who this source will be. We have had no great confidence in the voices of authority so far, except for the President himself." Did the press really need any further instruction on its responsibility to the national interest? Said Benjamin M. McKelway, Associated Press president and editor of the Washington Star: "I know of no responsible newspaper which would print material damaging to the interests of the country. I think that the job of protecting security is one that lies with the Government by policing its own sources of information."
Some press observers also saw in the presidential message a wholly unnecessary appeal for added secrecy in Government. "There is no need for further restrictive machinery," editorialized the New York Herald Tribune. "In days of peril especially, the country needs more facts, not fewer. In the long run, competent, thorough and aggressive news reporting is the uncompromising servant of the national interest—even though it may be momentarily embarrassing to the Government."
* To more than 20 million Americans, the word "secrecy" is not as repugnant as all that. They are the members of U.S. secret and fraternal societies, which include, besides student fraternities, such respectable organizations as the Masonic orders, the Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Loyal Order of the Moose. Of the U.S.'s 34 Presidents, 13 have been Masons. President Kennedy himself is a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic counterpart of masonry.