Broadcasting (July - Dec 1942)

ilROAIDCASTniNC Broadcast Advertising* W 23, No. 2 WASHINGTON, D. C, JULY 13, 1942 BW $5.00 A YEAR— 15c A COPY Radio Gets Places in OWI Structure Cowles Is Named To Key Post; Lewis In PROMISING an "open door" policy with respect to the Government's wartime news, and recognizing by his appointments and by the structural setup the vital role of radio in the war effort, Elmer Davis, director of the newly established Office of War Information, last Friday announced the key officials and the basic plan of organization of the Office of War Information. The former CBS news analyst, who was called to the Government service last month, announced the appointment of Gardner (Mike) Cowles Jr., president of the Iowa Broadcasting Co. (KSOKRNT, Des Moines; WMT, Cedar Rapids; WNAX, Yankton, S. D.), and president also of the Bes \ Moines Register & Tribune, the Minneapolis Star Journal and I Look Magazine, to the key post of assistant director in charge of all domestic operations of the OWI. Mr. Cowles' Domestic Branch will parallel the Overseas Branch, headed by Robert Sherwood, the playAvright, and the Policy Department Branch, headed by Archibald MacLeish, Librarian of Congress and former director of the Office of Facts & Figures, which OWI has absorbed. Comprise Policy Board These three branch chiefs, along with Mr. Davis and Milton S. Eisenhower, associate director of OWI and its administrative officer, will comprise the policy-making board in charge of all Government I information with the exception of certain military information which the military establishments are keeping to themselves as the best I judges of what is valabue to the enemy. Under Mr. Cowles' branch fall ! bureaus, namely (1) News Bureaus, headed by Robert Horton, ' ' heretofore information chief of the I' Office for Emergency Management; (2) Radio Bureau, headed by Wil liam B. Lewis, former CBS program vice-president who since last January has been associate director and radio chief of the OFF ; (3) Bureau of Publications & Graphics, headed by John R. Fleming, formerly of the Dept. of Agriculture; (4) Bureau of Motion Pictures, headed by Lowell Mellett, administrative assistant to the President and former director of the Office of Government Reports, which OWI absorbs; (5) Bureau of Public Inquiries, headed by Katherine C. Blackburn, former assistant to Mr. Mellett at OGR; (6) Bureau of Special Operations, with Philip Hamblet designated as acting head and special assistant to Mr. Davis; Mr. Hamblet is a former OGR official. Under Mr. Sherwood's Overseas Branch will fall all external oper OWI Regulation No. 1 To the Heads of all Executive Departments and Agencies : Pursuant to Executive Order No. 9182. issued June 13. 1942. authorizing the Director of War Information (a) to formulate and carrj out information programs designed to facilitate the development of an informed and intelligent tmderstanding, at home and abroad, of the status and progress of the war effort and of the war policies, activities, and aims of the government (b) to coordinate the war informational activities of all Federal departments and agencies (c) to issue directives concerning war information which shall be binding upon the several Federal departments and agencies, and (d) to establish by regulation the types and classes of informational programs and releases which shall require clearance and apnroval by the Office of War Information prior to dissemination this regulation is issued, effective Monday, July 13, 1942. 1. Information Policy The Federal Government will issue as promptly as possible all news and background information essential to a clear understanding of this Nation's war effort. The what, why. when, and how will be told. The impact of the wai' on all phases of American life will be reported. So will the cooperative efforts of the United Nations. Only information which would give aid and comfort to the enemy will be withheld. ations excepting those of the western hemisphere reserved under the President's Order to the Rockefeller Committee. Mr. Sherwood's operations will continue to be centered largely around American shortwave broadcasts to all of the world outside Latin America, and his branch virtually takes over intact the Division of Foreign Information of the Office of the Coordinator of Information (Donovan Committee) which he also headed. Sherwood-MacLeish Duties Under Mr. Sherwood's branch will come the following bureaus (1) Outpost Bureau, headed by Harold Guinzberg, president of Viking Press, book publishers, recently with OFF; (2) International Press & Radio Bureau, New (a) With the aid of the Committee on War Information Policy and of the policy staff of the Office of War Information, the Director of War Information will establish, and keep current, policies governing the war information activities of all Federal agencies. In Key OWI Post GARDNER COWLES, Jr. York, headed by Joseph Barnes, former foreign correspondent for the New York Herald-Tribune; (3) Bureau of Overseas Publications, New York, headed by Edward Stanley, former photo editor of the Associated Press; (4) Bureau of Communications Facilities, headed by Murry Brophy, former CBS artist bureau chief on the West Coast; (5) West Coast Office, San Francisco, headed by Warren Pierce. All of these officials continue virtually the same jobs they had with the Donovan Committee. The Policy Development Branch headed by Mr. MacLeish embraces the OFF's Bureau of Intelligence and will be continued under the same name with the same chief, R. Keith Kane, who it is understood intends to maintain virtu{Continued on page 56) (b) Within the general policies so established and in harmony with the clearance procedures hereinafter set forth, officers of Federal Departments and agencies are directed to maintain an open-door policy in their relations with representatives of the press, radio, and other media. (c) War information problems requiring policy decision shall be brought promptly to the attention of the Director of War Information through his liaison representatives, in order that policies may be determined and the information issued without delay. 2. Irformation Activities of Federal Departments and Agencies Within the framework of policies established by the Director of War Information, all Departments and agencies of the Government will continue to be responsible for and will release direct to the public information which relates exclusively to their authorized activities and which does not bear significantlj upon the war information program and policies of the Government. (a) After consultation between representatives of the Office of War Information and of each Federal Department or agency, this general regulation will be developed in greater detail to meet the specific problems that may arise in each such Department or agency. (b) Each Department and agency shall immediately review its information program and, in the interest of economy and effective war work, discontinue all non-essential phases thereof. An enumeration of the classes and types of information thus discontinued shall be reported by each Department {Continued on page 58) OWI Order No. 1 Covering Policy and Structure . . . j!ti BROADCASTING • Broadcast AdverHsing July 13, 1942 • Page 11