William Landau, president of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, has protested formally to Donald Kendall, co-chairman of the U.S-USSR Trade and Economic Council, for pushing a JTA correspondent in Washington last week in interference with his rightful news gathering duties, Landau asked Kendall to apologize to the reporter, JTA Washington Bureau chief Joseph Polakoff, and to the JTA, A copy of the letter was sent by Landau to Robert Anderson, Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Press Relations, requesting an investigation of the incident.
Landau said, in his letter to Kendall, that he was “deeply disturbed” by Polakoff’s report “that you pushed him, placed your hands on his shoulders and interposed yourself between him and Mr., Vladimir Alkhimov during a press conference at the Madison Hotel in Washington on Friday, February 21.”
Alkhimov, the Soviet co-chairman of the Joint Council, responded briefly to questions by Polakoff at the conclusion of the press conference and then moved to the end of the dais to speak to other reporters. When the JTA correspondent started to Join that group he was confronted and blocked by Kendall.
Landau noted in his letter that Polakoff’s report of the incident was conveyed, in part, in a New York Times report of the press conference published Feb. 22 which he quoted, The Times reported that Alkhimov sought to meet criticism of Soviet policies toward Jews by asserting that his country was a multi-national state of 130 nationalities, all of whom were treated well.
The Times’ account then stated; “One of the newsmen attending, from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, denied that Jews had the same rights, citing the lack of Yiddish-language textbooks and schools, The American officials on the platform tried to out him off.”
INFRINGEMENT ON FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
Landau’s letter continued; “Your actions, in trying to prevent Mr., Polakoff from questioning Mr. Alkhimov and attempting to exert physical pressure in the process, can only be viewed as an infringement on the freedom of the press and the pursuit of public information on the part of a reporter who was assigned to cover the conference. Your actions furthermore, constitute a violation of democratic rights.” Kendall is chairman of the Pepsico Corp.
In the covering note to Anderson, Landau stated that Kendall’s actions do not, “it seems to me, help in obtaining vital information on a subject that is of profound importance to the Jewish people in this country and abroad.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
