834.911/47
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Paraguay ( Frost )
The Secretary of State refers to the Embassy’s despatch no. 1153–A of July 8, 1943 requesting the Department’s advice as to the procedure the Proclaimed List Section of the Embassy should follow and the attitude it should adopt toward the local press in view of its acceptance of advertisements for Proclaimed List firms.
The Department believes that although it is clearly desirable to gain the cooperation of the press in Proclaimed List matters, no steps to achieve that end should be taken which might jeopardize the success that the Embassy has had in improving the attitude of the press toward the United Nations or which might produce unfavorable political repercussions. For whatever use the Embassy may wish to make of it and not as a suggestion that it be employed as a model in dealing with the problem, there is enclosed herewith a copy of a memorandum of July 17, 1943 to an officer in the Department from the British Embassy at Washington,24 describing the action taken by the American and British Embassies in Santiago with regard to acceptance of Proclaimed List advertisements by local newspapers. The Department realizes that the financial considerations described in the despatch under reference probably would make it impossible for newspapers in Asunción to follow the course adopted by the Santiago press even if they were disposed to do so. However, it would seem that the newspapers should not resent a frank approach whereby they were informed of the Embassy’s awareness of the financial considerations involved but that the Embassy cannot sanction active support of Proclaimed List enterprises. The distinction is clearly illustrated by the full-page article in the July 27 issue of El Paraguayo, describing the new quarters of Ferreteria Aleman; that is free advertising, cannot be justified on the basis discussed herein, and therefore should be a proper subject for an approach by the Embassy.
The Officer in Charge is requested to report from time to time any developments in this matter and particularly the reaction of a newspaper to an approach such as that suggested for El Paraguayo.
- Not printed.↩