Knight of the Free Press

John Shively Knight is a tall, balding, vigorous man of 49 who in double-quick time has become one of the most important and prosperous newspaper publishers in the U.S. Last week, as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, he put his aggressiveness to work for worldwide freedom of the press.

Others, notably the Associated Press's Kent Cooper and the United Press's Hugh Baillie, have been urging U.S. publishers since the end of World War I to pull to gether for treaty-guaranteed press access to information and communications throughout the world. The Knight-prodded ASNE planned to start by urging its aims on the platform committees of the Republican and Democratic conventions. Publisher Knight named a strong committee to plead the cause there and elsewhere.

"The Time Is Now." Tough-minded Publisher Knight conceded that guarantees of free exchange of information will not be easily won. But, said he : "It is one of the greatest challenges of our time. It . . . cannot be dodged or put off. The time for accepting it as such is now. . . . The most powerful thing in the world is truth. If news moves freely, and if controls permitting systematic distortion are rigidly prevented, the people may have an abiding faith that truth will prevail. . . . A free and honest press in every country would contribute greatly toward lessening the chance of future wars. . . ."

"Passionate Believer." Jack Knight inherited the Akron Beacon-Journal from his father. He has achieved an Akron monopoly by absorbing his Scripps-Howard competitor, gone on to acquire the Detroit Free Press and the Miami Herald. The three papers operate independently of one another. Knight is currently among those most often mentioned as a likely purchaser of the late Frank Knox's Chicago Daily News, but he disclaims any ambition to become another Hearst or Howard.

A stickler for keeping news columns factual and unbiased, Publisher Knight describes himself as "a passionate believer in personal journalism," lives up to it by writing a signed "Editor's Notebook" on his editorial pages. His sentences are short and punchy. His aim: to be independent but not neutral--"not to be a straddler of issues, a do-nothing."

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