Restraint in criticizing segregation is often the only sensible course for Southern newspapers, Phil J. Johnson, Nieman Fellow, said last night in a speech sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe Society for Minority Rights.

Claiming that many Southern newspapers "can work for justice only in a negative way," Johnson explained that an outright stand on the segregation issue would result in a loss of circulation and advertising revenue, and might put a paper in danger of folding.

"The newspaper's primary duty is to stay in business, because it can't take any stand on any moral issue if it isn't printed," Johnson said. He praised the "majority of responsible papers in the South" for choosing to survive instead of "going out in a blaze of glory."

Cites New Orleans Paper

As an example, Johnson cited the New Orleans Item, the now-defunct paper for which he worked. In competition with a strong segregationist paper, the Item "took a strong, firm stand on both sides of every issue," Johnson commented.

He added that, nevertheless, the newspaper was able to play down "inflammatory news," omit the "irrelevant" identification of Negroes in crime stories, and print pictures of Negroes on the sports page.

Although the newspaper was "attacked viciously by members of the White Citizens' Council," Johnson claimed that the Item went out of business for "complicated financial reasons." He expressed the opinion that if the paper had taken a strong stand against segregation, it would have folded much sooner.

During the question period following his speech, Johnson criticized some Northern papers for viewing Southerners as "Tobacco Row types," while ignoring local problems such as segregated housing. According to Johnson, these newspapers attack the South in an effort to "show they are moral."