@defEin wenig Zeit mein Leben zu leben und meine Antwort zu verfassen musst Du mir schon einräumen. Man kann, auch wenn so manche Verschwörungshypothese etwas anderes suggeriert, nicht immer alles in zwei Sätzen erklären.
:DDie Rede hielt Kennedy einige Tage nach dem Schweinebucht-Desaster.
Im Rahmen der fehlgeschlagenen Invasion Kubas durch die Exilkubaner berichtete die Presse die wildesten Sachen ohne jeglichen faktischen Hintergrund. Sowohl vor-, während- als auch nach der Invasion.
Kennedy nahm zwar die Schuld auf sich, war aber, nach Aussagen seines Pressesekretärs Salinger, über die Kuba-Fragen auf der kurz vor der ANPA-Rede stattgefundenen Pressekonferenz erbost.
Kennedy war insgesamt unzufrieden mit der Presseberichterstattung, die einerseits ihn selbst, als auch die USA nicht immer im besten Licht erscheinen ließen, womit er umgehen konnte, aber darüber hinaus auch seiner Meinung nach dem damaligen Feind in die Hände spielte, was er so nicht akzeptieren wollte.
Die Rede vor der ANPA war zwar schon vor der Invasion in der Schweinebucht geplant, Kennedy sah aber die Möglichkeit, seinem Ärger ein wenig Luft zu machen. Die Gesellschaft selbst, vor der er die Rede hielt, war das Advertising Bureau der ANPA, also noch nicht einmal die Journalisten selbst, die in den Zeitungsredaktionen die Meldungen schrieben. Da aber Fernsehkameras vor Ort sein würden, wollte Kennedy der Presse einen Seitenhieb mit auf den Weg geben und gleichzeitig die amerikanische Öffentlichkeit mit ins Boot holen.
Das tat er mit seiner Rede vor der ANPA (die, wie die meisten Kennedy-Reden von Ted Sorensen geschrieben wurde), in dem er die Pressefreiheit hervorhob und Zensur der Presse, auch gegenüber ausländischen Diplomaten, ablehnte:
I have selected as the title of my remarks tonight "The President and the Press." Some may suggest that this would be more naturally worded "The President Versus the Press." But those are not my sentiments tonight.
It is true, however, that when a well-known diplomat from another country demanded recently that our State Department repudiate certain newspaper attacks on his colleague it was unnecessary for us to reply that this Administration was not responsible for the press, for the press had already made it clear that it was not responsible for this Administration.
Was Kennedy aber erreichen wollte war, dass die Presse sich selbst zensiert, wenn die Situation es erfordert, es aber nicht so aussieht, als ob die Regierung eine Zensur fordere:
I want to talk about our common responsibilities in the face of a common danger. The events of recent weeks may have helped to illuminate that challenge for some; but the dimensions of its threat have loomed large on the horizon for many years. Whatever our hopes may be for the future--for reducing this threat or living with it--there is no escaping either the gravity or the totality of its challenge to our survival and to our security--a challenge that confronts us in unaccustomed ways in every sphere of human activity.
This deadly challenge imposes upon our society two requirements of direct concern both to the press and to the President--two requirements that may seem almost contradictory in tone, but which must be reconciled and fulfilled if we are to meet this national peril. I refer, first, to the need for far greater public information; and, second, to the need for far greater official secrecy.
Im ersten Teil der Rede thematisierte er die klare Ablehnung von Geheimnistuerei und Hinterzimmergesellschaften durch die freie, demokratische Gesellschaft:
The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment.
Kennedys Plan war, die allgemeine Bevölkerung und die Presse gegen den gemeinsamen Feind, den Kommunismus, einzuschwören. Das oft aus dem Kontext gerissene Zitat zielte darauf ab, den Kommunismus des Ostblocks, mit der dort stattfindenden Zensur sowohl der Presse als auch der Meinungs- und Redefreiheit, als die größte Bedrohung für die freie, westliche, demokratische Gesellschaft hervorzuheben.
Das tat Kennedy, in dem er klar darauf hinwies, dass seiner Auslegung nach ein Krieg im Gange ist, der nicht mit Soldaten auf dem Felde, sondern mit Guerillas bei Nacht gefochten wird. Ein "Kalter Krieg" eben.
Er baute den Kommunismus als politische Maschinerie auf, die von den jeweiligen Machthabern dicht mit dem täglichen Leben der Menschen verwoben wurde und wird. Eine Maschinerie, in dem das Individuum seine Freiheit verliert und Teil eines effizienten Getriebes wird, welches aus Militär, Diplomatie, Wissenschaft, Geheimdienst, Wirtschaft und Politik besteht.
Kurz: Der Kommunismus vereinnahmt alle Bereiche des Lebens der Menschen und sein Ziel ist Unterwerfung und nicht Freiheit.
If the press is awaiting a declaration of war before it imposes the self-discipline of combat conditions, then I can only say that no war ever posed a greater threat to our security. If you are awaiting a finding of "clear and present danger," then I can only say that the danger has never been more clear and its presence has never been more imminent.
It requires a change in outlook, a change in tactics, a change in missions--by the government, by the people, by every businessman or labor leader, and by every newspaper. For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.
its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed. It conducts the Cold War, in short, with a war-time discipline no democracy would ever hope or wish to match.
Danach bekam Kennedy schnell die Kurve auf die von ihm gewünschte Selbstzensur der Presse in Kriegszeiten. Zuerst hob er die Rolle der einheimischen Presse hervor, die sie in der Informationsbeschaffung des Feindes spielt und stellte heraus, dass diese in einem offenen Konflikt solcherlei Informationen nicht verbreitet hätte:
For the facts of the matter are that this nation's foes have openly boasted of acquiring through our newspapers information they would otherwise hire agents to acquire through theft, bribery or espionage; that details of this nation's covert preparations to counter the enemy's covert operations have been available to every newspaper reader, friend and foe alike; that the size, the strength, the location and the nature of our forces and weapons, and our plans and strategy for their use, have all been pinpointed in the press and other news media to a degree sufficient to satisfy any foreign power; and that, in at least one case, the publication of details concerning a secret mechanism whereby satellites were followed required its alteration at the expense of considerable time and money.
The newspapers which printed these stories were loyal, patriotic, responsible and well-meaning. Had we been engaged in open warfare, they undoubtedly would not have published such items. But in the absence of open warfare, they recognized only the tests of journalism and not the tests of national security. And my question tonight is whether additional tests should not now be adopted.
Dann ließ er den (metaphorischen) Hammer fallen und appellierte an die Verantwortung der Medien im Rahmen der Pressefreiheit:
That question is for you alone to answer. No public official should answer it for you. No governmental plan should impose its restraints against your will. But I would be failing in my duty to the Nation, in considering all of the responsibilities that we now bear and all of the means at hand to meet those responsibilities, if I did not commend this problem to your attention, and urge its thoughtful consideration.
On many earlier occasions, I have said-and your newspapers have constantly said-that these are times that appeal to every citizen's sense of sacrifice and self-discipline. They call out to every citizen to weigh his rights and comforts against his obligations to the common good. I cannot now believe that those citizens who serve in the newspaper business consider themselves exempt from that appeal.
I have no intention of establishing a new Office of War Information to govern the flow of news. I am not suggesting any new forms of censorship or new types of security classifications. I have no easy answer to the dilemma that I have posed, and would not seek to impose it if I had one. But I am asking the members of the newspaper profession and the industry in this country to reexamine their own responsibilities, to consider the degree and the nature of the present danger, and to heed the duty of self-restraint which that danger imposes upon us all.
Every newspaper now asks itself, with respect to every story: "Is it news?" All I suggest is that you add the question: "Is it in the interest of the national security?" And I hope that every group in America-unions and businessmen and public officials at every level--will ask the same question of their endeavors, and subject their actions to this same exacting test.
And should the press of America consider and recommend the voluntary assumption of specific new steps or machinery, I can assure you that we will cooperate whole-heartedly with those recommendations.
Die Rede vor der ANPA diente also nicht der Warnung vor Geheimgesellschaften, wie Verschwörungsseiten es immer wieder gerne darstellen, sondern zielte darauf ab, die Presse zur Selbstzensur aufzufordern. So, wie sie es Kennedy nach in offenen Kriegszeiten auch tun würden, um die nationale Sicherheit nicht zu gefährden.
Kennedy sprach während des kalten Krieges gegen den Kommunismus über die Rolle der Presse und der Pressefreiheit
im kalten Krieg.
Quellen:
Writing JFK: presidential rhetoric and the press in the Bay of Pigs crisis von Thomas W. Benson
Address: "The President and the Press" Before the American Newspaper Publishers Association, New York City. April 27, 1961