It was decided in October that the Department should make available to the daily and periodical press, and to interested individuals, information regarding con­ditions in the U.S.S.R. and other communist‑dominated countries. No decision was taken as to the means whereby such information might be made available to the press.

2. There is already in the Department a certain amount of material that can be utilized directly. This includes some articles and reference papers that have already been written; same despatches from our missions abroad that can be easily adapted to a form in which they can be utilized; articles that have been and are being pre­pared by the Research Division of the United Kingdom Foreign Office; usable translations of articles on Canada that appear in the Soviet press which the Embassy in Moscow has been requested to send to us; a Digest of Soviet news prepared in the United Kingdom Foreign Office, which might be distributed in its present form or easily adapted; and a Digest of the Soviet Press publication of which is to be begun, very soon, by the American Council of Learned Societies. Mr. [E.B.] Rogers is collecting and adapting material that might be utilized.

3. The Information Division has received a number of enquiries, apparently inde­pendent of one another, for information on the Soviet press and on conditions behind the "iron curtain", from members of the Press Gallery. The people con­cerned have been told of various sources, e.g., the British and American monitors' reports, the Tass hand‑outs, certain English‑language Soviet publications such as New Timer , and the forthcoming Digest of the Soviet Press which is to be published by the American Council of Learned Societies.

4. Although the enquiries that have been received indicate that the press would be willing to accept some kinds of material, especially translations of articles on Can­ada that have been published in the Soviet press, the problem of obtaining publica­tion of other material remains unsolved. There is a strong possibility that journalists might resent and resist any attempt by the Department to use them for the "plant­ing" of propaganda articles in the press. It is therefore suggested that the whole problem be discussed frankly at a convenient time in the near future with a group of trusted journalists such as Gil Purcell, Grant Dexter, George Ferguson, Blair Fraser, Norman Smith, and others.

5. We could let them know the kind of material which we get on the Soviet Union, much of which, for censorship or for other reasons, is not available to the press in Canada. We could say that we feel that in times like this it is very impor­tant that the Canadian people be given as much reliable information as possible about what is actually going on in the Soviet Union. While some of the material which we receive could be used in speeches by Cabinet Ministers and in articles appearing in the Monthly Bulletin of the Department, much of it is not susceptible to this kind of treatment. We could then ask the newspapermen for advice on how they think the problem could best be dealt with.

6. Before the meeting takes place we will have available samples of various kinds of material which we have in our possession.

7. This is a matter not only of some importance but also of some delicacy and if you could possible spare an evening for an informal discussion with the group of newspapermen I think it would be most useful.²⁴ Mr. Rae, Mr. Rogers, Mr. [B.A.] Wallis and Mr. Holmes might also be asked to come.

E[SCOTT] R[EID]

²⁴Note marginale:/Marginal note:
I think that such a meeting would be useful but that you should arrange it & I will come if possible LB P[earson]