A plan for free news flow offered at security parley

Austria, Spain, and Switzerland unveiled proposals to the European Security Conference aimed at removing barriers to the free flow of news among the 35 nations taking part. But Austrian Ambassador Franz Ceska acknowledged that there was little prospect of Soviet-bloc countries accepting the proposals.

The plan, similar to Swiss proposals rejected by Eastern countries at the last security meeting, called on the states to commit themselves to action in three main fields: facilitating freer and wider dissemination of information of all kinds; encouraging cooperation in the information field; improving working conditions for journalists from one participating state covering news in another. The plan reflects Western complaints that East-bloc countries ban foreign newspapers critical of their policies and make life unnecessary difficult for foreign journalists.