Off Again, On Again

As soon as Senator Joe McCarthy began his broadside investigation of U.S. information services three months ago, the jittery State Department got worried about its Informational Media Guaranty Program. State first ruled that no publisher could participate if his publications carried material by "Communists, fellow travelers, or persons who might be considered controversial." Then State with drew its loosely worded order, which smacked of Government press censorship, instead suspended the whole program.

Started five years ago, when Marshall

Plan aid got under way, the program had allowed U.S. magazine, newspaper and book publishers (along with other U.S. businessmen who invest abroad) to buy "convertibility insurance" from the Government. The insurance (bought at 1-c- for every dollar involved) guaranteed U.S. publishers that, if they could not convert into dollars the money they received from foreign sales, they could collect dollars from the U.S. Treasury in return for their blocked currencies. The program was one of the most effective means of getting U.S. publications around the world, and under it millions of magazines, books and newspapers have gone abroad. Furthermore, although $8.4 million has been paid out, the money comes back to the U.S. Government in the form of foreign currency, which the Government collects and can use abroad (in addition to insurance payments it gets in dollars).

Last week, with 67 insurance applications piled up (from such publishers as Curtis, Macmillan, TIME Inc., Pocket Books, Reader's Digest, etc.), State revived the program. It also clarified its stand on "controversial" writers. Said the office of new Information Chief Robert L. Johnson: "We are interested only in what the particular publication says. A writer who has been criticized is not him self forbidden. But if a person puts out a publication designed to convey Communist propaganda, it will, of course, be disqualified."

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