711.94/2421a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Japan (Grew)
716. The American press has widely circulated a report that the “Foreign Office-controlled Japan Times and Advertiser” published on November 5 a sweeping seven-point program of demands which Japan makes of this country for resolving the tense situation in the Pacific. You are authorized in your discretion and if opportune in your contacts with officials of the Foreign Office to offer informal comment along lines as follows:
The Japan Times and Advertiser is believed by the interested American public to be the official English language mouthpiece of the Japanese Foreign Office and any comment appearing in that journal is interpreted by many Americans as representing the views of the Japanese Government. The uncompromising and truculent tone of articles of the sort appearing on November 5 lends color to the suspicions of many Americans in regard to Japanese official policies and objectives and considerably strengthens the position of critics of Japan. Accordingly, such articles are not conducive to the creation of conditions of public opinion either in Japan or the United States favorable to an adjustment of relations or solution of common problems between Japan and the United States.
You should, of course, avoid any appearance of attempting to influence articles published by Japanese newspapers and merely indicate to the Foreign Office in a spirit of helpfulness the natural reaction in this country to newspaper articles of that sort.