Commission on Freedom of the Press

Funded by grants from Time, Inc., and Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., the Commission on Freedom of the Press was appointed in 1944 to investigate the freedom, function, and responsibilities of the major agencies of mass communication. Commission members included Robert Hutchins, chairman; Zechariah Chaffee, vice-chairman; John M. Clark; John Dickinson; William E. Hocking; Harold Lasswell; Archibald MacLeish; Charles Merriam; Reinhold Niebuhr; Robert Redfield; Beardsley Ruml; Arthur Schlesinger; and George N. Schuster. The general report of the Commission, A Free and Responsible Press, was published by the University of Chicago Press in 1947.

The Commission on Freedom of the Press was appointed in 1944 to investigate the freedom, function, and responsibilities of the major agencies of mass communication operative at the time. Funded by grants from Time, Inc., and Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., the Commission was chaired by Robert M. Hutchins, who appointed the vice-chairman Zechariah Chafee, Jr., and the remaining members. They included John M. Clark, John Dickinson, William E. Hocking, Harold D. Lasswell, Archibald Mac-Leish, Charles E. Merriam, Reinhold Niebuhr, Robert Redfield, Beardsley Ruml, Arthur M. Schlesinger, and George N. Schuster. John Grierson, Hu Shih, Jacques Maritain, and Kurt Riezler served as foreign advisors. The general report of the Commission, A Free and Responsible Press was published by the University of Chicago Press in April, 1947.

BIOGHIST REQUIRED The Commission on Freedom of the Press, 1943-1946, led to the publication of its general report, A Free and Responsible Press (1947) and six subsidiary reports.