News stories from Saturday September 18, 1976
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A Carter campaign blunder was charged by the White House after the Democratic nominee was reported in an interview with the Associated Press as advocating what the White House said was higher taxes for half the families in the country. A spokesman for Mr. Carter said Mr. Ford's spokesman had distorted the interview. But the controversy was complicated by an error in the story dropping Mr. Carter's reference to lowering taxes for middle-income families also. [New York Times]
- Television restrictions demanded by the League of Women Voters on the right of the television networks to show shots of the audience have raised doubts over whether the debate between the presidential candidates will be shown. A meeting between the networks and the league was held on the restriction, agreed to by both candidates, to limit coverage only to the debaters. Richard Salant, president of CBS News, angrily left the meeting after being told to "shut up" by a league representative. [New York Times]
- A margin of three votes will enable President Ford to run in New York State as a Conservative as well as a Republican. The Conservative Party's state committee approved the listing of Mr. Ford's name on their line on the ballot, but 137 opponents of his candidacy voted to leave his name off. [New York Times]
- Rhodesia's Prime Minister and Secretary of State Kissinger will meet tomorrow in Pretoria, South Africa. The announcement of the secretary's meeting with Ian Smith followed an earlier report that progress had been made on the issue of black rule for Rhodesia in talks between Mr. Kissinger and South African Prime Minister John Vorster. The Secretary also met with non-white South African leaders who urged him to use his influence to end apartheid before violence engulfed South Africa. [New York Times]
- A "credibility gap" between Polish leaders and the rest of the country over promises of better living standards has forced the leaders to engage in an intense debate about what to do. Both Poles and Westerners indicate there has been an atmosphere of extreme tension since riots last June forced the government to back down on planned price increases. [New York Times]
- A final tribute to the memory of Mao Tse-tung brought at least 750,000 Chinese to the center of Peking. After a three-minute silence, which was to be observed throughout the country, Prime Minister Hua Kuo-feng read a memorial to the founder of modern China asking that Chairman Mao's cause be carried on. [New York Times]
- Censorship regulations for foreign correspondents were withdrawn by the Indian government as a gesture of good will. There was no indication, however, that the rigid controls on the Indian press were being relaxed. The withdrawal of the regulations will have little practical effect since most correspondents have ignored them anyway. [New York Times]
- Big-city school systems in many places may be facing, because of a lack of funds, the same sort of massive cutbacks that have struck the public schools in New York City. In Chicago, where schools closed last June when the money ran out, teachers accepted a new contract recently without a wage increase. In many other cities, programs are being slashed and goals once thought obtainable are receding because of the forced reductions. [New York Times]