Survey of U.S. Press Indicates Approval of Conduct of Eichmann Trial

A survey of American editorial opinion on the Eichmann trial indicates a “clear consensus of approval” of Israel’s conduct of the proceedings, it was reported today.

The study was made by the American Jewish Congress, which measured attitudes on the trial expressed by daily newspapers and magazines of general interest; the Catholic and Protestant religious press; Negro newspapers; labor union and veterans’ publications; and what it described as “the lunatic right. “

According to the survey, the impact of Israel’s decision to put Eichmann on trial was “substantially more affirmative than negative, ” as reflected in daily newspaper and magazine editorials. Another finding disclosed by the survey was that there is “a formidable reserve of good will for Israel among the general press, even on controversial issues in which Israel’s position is not initially appealing. “

The study found no apparent differences in editorial approach on the basis of geographical region or size of population served. It noted, however, that newspapers in the Middle West tended to devote more space to news coverage of the trial than other dailies.

The American Jewish Congress report said three main themes ran through American newspaper comment on the Eichmann trial once the question of Israeli jurisdiction had disappeared after the trial opened. First, it was noted, a number of editorials called for an intensified effort to eliminate prejudice and discrimination, emphasizing that the Nazi horrors demonstrated the end to which bigotry and racism could lead. A second theme dealt with the world’s collective responsibility for the Nazi atrocities. A third idea, expressed in numerous editorials, was the hope that the trial would not be allowed to assume the form of an all-out offensive against Germany.

Newspapers in all sections of the country underscored the importance of not reawakening national hatred that would weaken the Western alliance, it was found. Editorial comment of the Eichmann trial was no indication of the individual publication’s general political orientation. The survey found, for example, that the conservative New York Daily News gave unequivocal endorsement to the Eichmann trial in Israel while the generally liberal Washington Post & Times Herald opposed putting Eichmann on trial in Israel.

CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS PRESS SEEN SHOWING ‘UNDERSTATED ANIMOSITY’

The American Jewish Congress survey disclosed that the Christian religious press had expressed a variety of opinions about the trial. It found, however, that the “predominant and unmistakable tone” was one of “consistent if low-keyed hostility to Israel. ” The report found “a kind of understated animosity to the trial, ” which it said was most pronounced in local diocesan papers such as the Pittsburgh Catholic. The sharpest comments, the report said, centered on the seizure of Eichmann, the right of Israel to conduct the trial, and the alleged spectacular character of the proceedings.

However, liberal Catholic magazines like America and The Commonweal “editorialized in a vein far different from that of the local diocesan press, again reflecting the diversity that may be found among Catholic publications, ” the report said.

The Protestant press, it was reported, was “somewhat more receptive to the idea of the trial in Israel, ” although much of its interest in the case has been devoted to the problem of capital punishment, the report noted. One of the few Christian leaders openly and publicly to defend Israel as the proper forum for the trial, the report said, was the Reverend Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr, prominent Protestant theologian, in an editorial in Christianity and Crisis.

Commenting on religious press reaction to the trial, the American Jewish Congress report said: “As is often the case in matters touching upon Israel, the Christian religious press has exhibited much less charity and compassion than has the general press. It is remarkable that religious writers should prefer logic chopping to the broader moral speculation that the Eichmann case so obviously invited. “

The survey found only “scant reference to the holocaust and the annihilation of European Jewry” among sectarian publications generally and asserted there had been a “failure” by the religious press in the U.S. “to have confronted the implications for the Christian religious world of the monstrous fact of the Hitler period. “

The Negro press, which the report said usually manifested a “definite reserve” toward Israel, has been “highly understanding” of the Israeli position, it was noted.

The report noted an “almost complete lack of interest” in the trial by American veterans’ organization publications, as contrasted with the deep concern in the Eichmann trial shown by veterans’ groups in Europe. Similarly, it was noted, the labor press has shown little concern with the issues of the trial.

The American Jewish Congress study noted that the most notorious hate groups of the “lunatic fringe” had rushed to Eichmann’s defense and used the trial as a springboard for further vicious attacks against Jews.