News Reporting Imbalanced, Nieman Fellow Says at Union

The news coverage of foreign affairs received by Americans "is accurate, but in a very limited way," Kenneth J. Freed, Associated Press diplomatic correspondent and a Nieman fellow, said yesterday at the second of a series of Nieman fellow lectures at the Freshman Union.

The content is accurate but imbalanced, Freed said, as indicated by the fact that only two New York Times correspondents cover all of South America while three correspondents cover Paris alone.

Another imbalance exists in the types of stories newsmen select to cover, Freed said. While a "flashy story, such as South Korean Tong Sun Park's alleged bribing of Congressmen, receives a lot of coverage, a more important story, such as American troop withdrawal from Korea, receives comparatively little," he said.

Growing Arrogance

There is a danger in the "arrogance that is growing among reporters," Freed said. "We are suddenly players" in the foreign affairs game, "but we should be playing the passive role of being reporters," he added.

The press should avoid advocacy in news stories that could affect policy, because the press is not elected and therefore unaccountable, he said.

In response to a student's question about the problem of sensationalism in journalism, Freed said he sees a much greater danger in the growth of large conservative newspaper chains that avoid covering controversial issues in order to maximize their income.