Telegrams: "FREJOURNAL"

Managing Edi tor : S. SA D A N A N D

Free Press Journal (ENGLISH MORNING DAILY)

Bharat Jyoti (ENGLISH SUNDAY WEEKLY)

Nabshakti

(MARATHI MORNING DAILY) Ref. No ............

Telephones: 2 6 4 2 0 Editorial 3 0 4 0 8 Business 3 0 7 5 0 Mg. Editor

21, D A L A L S T R E E T

Bombay, May 1 0 , 1946

Dear Mani,

I have te legraphed t o you today, as u n d e r : -

"Yours second e igh th a l l your despatches r ece ived s top your r i c e o f fe r ve ry g rea t achievement s top unwrote due your u n c e r t a i n programme s top unacknowledging names correspondents as pa r t our c a r d i n a l po l i cy s top w r i t i n g Singapore"

A word, i n not acknowledging messages to you by name.

I t i s a ques t ion of p o l i c y . I t has been en American p r a c t i c e fo r a long t ime . The war made i t u n i v e r s a l . I f we adopt the p r a c t i c e , we w i l l have to make i t a genera l r u l e . I am not c l e a r i n my mind, t h a t i t i s adv i sab le or workable .

Kindly l e t the ques t ion r e s t , f o r the p r e s e n t .

That you are cover ing Malaya and Indonesia i s wide ly known i n j o u r n a l i s t i c c i r c l e s .

Let me say at the o u t s e t , t h a t you have more than f u l l y v ind ica t ed the t r u s t and confidence placed i n you, by me. I am happy i n having you to work fo r u s . Let me hope t h a t you w i l l a l s o f e e l happy i n your a s s o c i a t i o n wi th u s .

Your coverage of the Indones ian

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r i c e o f f e r was a g r ea t achievement . You and we have been f u l l y v i n d i c a t e d .

Your judgment, news-sense , p r e s e n t a t i o n a re a l l good. You have a l l the makings of an ace j o u r n a l i s t .

There was only one message, i n framing which, you had r e l axed your usua l r e s t r a i n t . That message r e l a t e d t o I n d i a n c o l l o b o r a t o r s w i th the Dutch. A few more messages i n t h a t s t r a i n would undo a l l your good work. There i s a maxim: the g r e a t e r the t r u t h , the g r e a t e r the l i b e l . I t i s when p rovoca t ion i s g r e a t , one has to be ve ry c a r e f u l , ex t remely r e s p o n s i b l e and r e s t r a i n e d . I n v e c t i v e s defea t t h e i r ends .

I have r ece ived from you l e t t e r s dated March 28 , 30 , A p r i l 3 , 5 , 16 , 23rd and 25 th .

I r e f e r to some of the p o i n t s r a i s e d i n t h e above l e t t e r s .

Your coverage of Nehru ' s t o u r was e x c e l l a n t .

I note t h a t Pub l i c R e l a t i o n s c lose down on May 1 .

I am a d d r e s s i n g t h i s l e t t e r t o the care of Ind ian Bank L td .

The cop ies of our p u b l i c a t i o n s a l s o w i l l be sent t o the care of t h e Ind ian Bank L t d . , S ingapore .

We can have a s e l l i n g agent fo r our c o p i e s , provided we can send the cop ies by ocean m a i l . Air mail w i l l be c o s t l y . Statesman has the advantage of p u b l i s h i n g i n C a l c u t t a and g e t t i n g d i r e c t on the Singapore bound a i r m a i l .

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I am a r r ang ing to supply one copy each of Free P r e s s Journa l and Bharat J y o t i t o

The Pub l i c R e l a t i o n s Of f i ce r , Govt. of S ingapore , S e c r e t a r i a t , S ingapore .

You should arrange to send us copies of s e l ec t ed newspapers by ocean mai l and comprehensive c u t t i n g s by a i r m a i l .

We can main ta in a d a i l y cable s e r v i c e t o Singapore, supplemented by a i r mail s t o r i e s .

Mr. Hatheesingh a l s o t o l d me t h a t about 18 newspapers of Malaya asked him t o ar range for a s e r v i c e from I n d i a .

Our r a t e s of s u b s c r i p t i o n fo r such a se rv ice to Malayan newspapers would depend e n t i r e l y on the cos t of our Singapore o r g a n i s a -t ion and the cab le c o s t . We can give the benef i t of our a l l I n d i a o r g a n i s a t i o n t o the Malayan newspapers f r e e .

I have read wi th i n t e r e s t your o b s e r v a t i o n s regarding A.P.A. arrangements fo r c o l l e c t i o n of news and the U . P . I . p l a n t o s e t up an o f f i c e in S ingapore .

I have a l s o cons idered t h e a p p l i c a t i o n of Mr. Gerald de Cruz.

The ou t s t and ing p o i n t s , which emerge, as a r e s u l t of s i x weeks ' e x p e r i e n c e , i s : -

1 . We must s e t up an o r g a n i s a t i o n i n Malaya and Indones i a , by which, we can have a r e g u l a r flow of news by

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cable and a i r mai l , wherever you maya c t u a l l y be .

This involves a s t r i n g of t rus twor thy correspondents at a number of c e n t r e s , with a clearance off ice a t a c e n t r a l place (Singapore or any other town) to e d i t , s e l ec t and frame the r i g h t type of news-messages.

2 . Our Cen t ra l o r g a n i s a t i o n must a l s o r ece ive news from Ind ia and be a d i s t r i -b u t i n g c e n t r e .

Th i s invo lves a s t a f f of two or t h r e e men, who are a combination of r e p o r t e r s , s u b - e d i t o r s , t y p i s t s .

To my mind, whatever ex t r a e x p e n d i t u r e , we plan to spend, on an expansion scheme, should be covered by l o c a l revenue . As t o whether such ba lanc ing of income and expendi ture i s p o s s i b l e or whether we should i n v e s t more money on our Singapore Zone o r g a n i s a t i o n , i s a m a t t e r , in which, you are b e s t equipped t o guide u s .

We must have a s teady flow of news from Malaya and Indones i a , i r r e s p e c t i v e of where you pe r sona l l y a r e .

We must have a schedule of the cable wordage and work up to i t and w i th in i t s l i m i t s .

We s h a l l come t o agreed conc lus ions , as soon as you have had t i m e , t o s e t t l e down and t o make your own p r o p o s a l s .

You should ar range wi th the appropr i a t e a u t h o r i t i e s in Singapore and Batavia for r e g i s -t e r i n g a t e l e g r a p h i c add res s to which prepaid p r e s s c ab l e s can be sen t from t h i s end.

I suggest fo r the abbrev ia ted t e l e g r a p h i c a d d r e s s , the word ' I n f r e p r e s s ' . ' F r ep re s s ' i s

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the registered telegraphic address for the Newsagency.

With r e g a r d s ,

Yours S i n c e r e l y ,

(S. Sadanand)

P.R.S.Mani Esq., Special Correspondent, Free Press of India, c/o The Indian Bank Ltd., Singapore.