Recording the Testimony
Almost no direct quotes were employed. Also, the emphasis was primarily on what happened at the hearings and what testimony was given, not in McCarthy's comments.
It seemed, moreover, that a small but significant number of journals using the United Press were trying to angle their coverage away from the University. At least 25 percent of these papers, including the Detroit "News," overlooked the Furry-Kamin hearing except as an after thought in the story of the GE hearing.
Far-western papers, though terse, were the most liberal papers in the country. Not a few printed only the witnesses' justification of their acts, in addition to the bare essentials of the hearing. Of course, there were exceptions. The Riverside, Cal. "Enterprise" blurted, "INSTRUCTORS DEFY SEN. McCARTHY--HARVARD MEN WON'T BE 'POLITICAL INFORMERS'" above their version of the hearing.
As in the case of AP papers, Southern sheets often refused entirely to quote McCarthy, and Wisconsin journals regularly played up the story.
Even fewer newspapers ran the Inter national News Service story than either AP or UP versions, although, geographically speaking, the INS story appeared is as many parts of the country as any other story. When it appeared, it usually was played medium and omitted Kamin's avowed abandonment of the Communist credo.
The New York "Times," New York "Herald Tribune," and Baltimore daily "Sun" reported the story in person and presented conservative, impartial stories.
Other newspapers using their own sources were less conservative. The Little Rock, Ark. "Gazette" was critical of Kamin throughout most of its story, without printing any of his explanatory statements. The Chicago "Tribune," using its private wire, came up with a story which could have appeared in the New York "Daily News." The Detroit "Free Press," listening in on the same line, ran a much more conventional account.
'Daily Worker' Rhetoric
Unquestionably, the New York "Daily Worker" produced the most rhetorical news. "America's leading fascist employed everything except the jackboot, bayonet, and bludgeon . . .," began its lead paragraph.
The CRIMSON's editorial of January 15 entitled "Mismanaged Heroics," which advised Furry and Kamin to tell the names of Communists whom they knew, was reported by the United Press and appeared in several New England and New York City papers, in addition to the Dayton, Ohio "News" and the Cinciunati Ohio "Post."
Likewise, the CRIMSON's exclusive interview with Furry was either printed or mentioned in at least 15 New England papers and all major New York City papers.