It is probably known to the Department that the telegraphic news
supplied to the daily papers of the Netherland East Indies by
Reuter-Aneta is colored in such a way as to give the British point
of view on all matters. While this in itself may not be harmful to
the United States, the principle involved seems to be one over which
we may well afford to be concerned. However, pending the
Department’s instructions, I shall not go beyond the present
informal discussion of the question with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
[Enclosure]
The American
Legation to the Netherland
Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Aide-Mémoire
The United Press Association is one of the most important news
agencies in the international field. Its functions and its
interests are very much like those of the Associated Press,
Reuter, Havas, etc. It has for some time past attempted to
penetrate into the field of the Netherland East Indies and to
sell there to local newspapers its worldwide telegraphic
service. It was prevented from carrying out this purpose,
according to information given the American Legation, by the
influence which the press association Aneta was able to bring to
bear upon the local publishers.
Recently, the Aneta Agency, having experienced some difficulties
of a financial nature and otherwise, was faced with the
formation of a new press agency called Vereenigd Pers Bureau,
Batavia, which undertook to maintain an independent position as
against the Aneta-Reuter monopoly in the purchase of news.
This new association approached the United Press and asked that
an arrangement be made with them similar to that existing
between Reuter and Aneta, that is to say, to supply them with
non-Netherland news from all over the world and also with a
financial service. An agreement having been reached, such a
service was started on August 16th of this year. There has
apparently ensued a quarrel of some proportions between the two
Netherland agencies, Aneta and Vereenigd
[Page 615]
Pers Bureau, which has, according to the
Legation’s information, been recently placed in the hands of the
President of the Java Bank for the purpose of arbitration.
The United Press Association, having entered into its agreement
with the Vereenigd Pers Bureau, has found that it is faced with
what it considers to be discriminatory treatment on the part of
the Netherland authorities in Chargé of Posts, Telegraphs and
Telephones. A representative of the Association called therefore
on Ir. M. H. Damme, the director of the P. T. T., at The Hague,
and addressed a formal letter, on August 19th, last, to the
appropriate Government Department applying for equal treatment
with the Reuter Agency in so far as radio transmission rates
were concerned. This request was flatly refused, without
comment, by the Ministry of the Interior in a letter addressed
to the United Press on October 4th, last.
This question has been discussed by representatives of the United
Press with Mr. A. J. Lievegoed, the Chief of the Press Service
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and with Jhr. H. M. van
Haersma de With, the Netherland Minister in Washington. It is
the Legation’s understanding that Mr. Lievegoed gave it as his
opinion that the discriminatory action of the Ministry of the
Interior, which charges the United Press approximately three
times as much as it does Reuter, is in reality not being applied
to the United Press but to the Vereenigd Pers Bureau.
The American Legation is concerned with what appears to be in
effect a decision by the Ministry of the Interior which will
deprive an American firm of the privilege of competing freely in
the territory of the Netherland East Indies and which will
effectively safeguard the position of another foreign news
agency, and would be pleased to have such information on the
subject as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will wish to furnish
at its convenience.
The Hague,
October 25,
1935.