July 16, 1973

Community‐mindedness has not always been foremost concern of Jackson, Miss, TV station WLBT; station for yrs seemed mindful only of the 60% of its audience who are white; that approach eventually touched off nationwide struggle over control of broadcasting licenses that is beginning to give millions of TV and radio viewers better programing; WLBT, NBC affiliate, now refers to itself as ‘your community‐minded station’; number of its screen personalities are black and number of its programs are oriented toward public service; key element in WLBT's changes is unprecedented ‘69 ct decision that lifted WLBT's license from Lamar Life Broadcasting Co on ground that station had violated its public trust by interjecting racial discrimination into its programing; WLBT's license was given temporarily to Communications Improvement Inc, which promised to treat its black and white audiences equally and to hire black employes; many TV and radio stations are taking similar steps to protect their licenses; these stations are hoping that powerful pol allies in Washington, including Nixon Adm, will find ways to relieve pressure; challenge that brought about changes in WLBT's programing originally came from United Church of Christ, which took its case to US Appeals Ct for Dist of Columbia afer being rebuffed by FCC; ct at that time was presided over by W Burger, now Chief Justice of US; Burger not only found in favor of church but also criticized FCC for its ‘profound hostility’ toward civic groups that were keeping tabs on broadcasting; Burger decision revd; 5 cos are competing for WLBT's license; Dixie Natl Broadcasting reptdly has already won recommendation of 1 FCC examiner; banker R Phillips is principal stockholder of Dixie Natl; is close friend of F LaRue, former deputy of Com for the Re‐election of the Pres allegedly involved in Watergate Affair; illus

Two Canadian control comm members, Capts I Patten and Capt F Thomson, freed on July 15, after having been held in the jungle for 17 days by the Vietcong; say they were constantly interrogated and taken on forced marches; Patten repts occasional beatings while in detention; 2 say Vietcong told them they were being held because they were ‘Amer spies’; say Vietcong tried to get them to sign confessions that they entered Communist territory illegally; say they refused to sign any statement and had insisted they had been on legitimate business for the comm when they were detained by Vietcong soldiers on June 28 in a rubber plantation 35 mi E of Saigon; 11‐man comm recovery team picked them up from the jungle; 2 men illus

Brief biog; por

Internal Revenue Comr D C Alexander, in July 16 interview, says that maintaining public trust in IRS will be top goal; would expand comrs advisory group to include reprs from ‘public interest’ sector

President Nixon's doctors said yesterday that he was making “good progress” in his recovery from viral pneumonia at Bethesda Naval Hospital. Details on Page 19.