The Twentieth Century Fund is currently suggesting a National News Council (tentatively scheduled to be in operation by the end of 1973), which would be independent of both the government and the craft of journalism and would report to the public both on the accuracy of news coverage and on the threat, real and potential, against freedom of the press. Originally proposed in 1947 by the Hutchins Commission, but never implemented, the idea gained renewed interest in the late 1960s. Its scope would be limited to national suppliers of news: wire services, "supplemental" news services, weekly news magazines, newspaper syndicates, daily newspapers, and broadcasting networks. The council has not gone unopposed. Many in the news media view the council as an apparatus to intensify external control over journalism and serve in the role of unofficial news censor. Other problems involve the council's definition of news and its purview of national suppliers of news. Whether the council succeeds depends upon its first year performance, the positions it will take on government-press relationships, and the support of its membership. (HOD)