THROWN TO THE WOLVES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 71, Issue 37, 23 November 1950, Page 5

THROWN TO THE WOLVES

MR BEVAN FACES PRESSWOMEN NO CHANGE OF HEART (Special Correspondent—N.Z.P.A.). (Rec. 8.5 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 22. Mr Aneurin Bevan, in his own words, was “thrown .to the wolves” when he went to the London Women’s Press Club to meet 100 presswomen and answer a barrage of questions, chiefly on his own attitude to the press. He was challenged on his statement that “the British capitalist press is the most prostituted press in the world,” but he refused to recant. / He told the presswomen: “I did not call journalists prostitutes—in fact, my view is that they are a lot of reasonably worthy people used for unworthy purposes.” Mr Bevan said he was not convinced that the present system of running the newspapers was healthy, either for the newspapers or the country. British papers were dominated by a small handful of rich men, which was a very improper thing, and had an influence on press development. It was “frank humbug” to say that Britain had the freest press in the world. There have been instances in recent years that have been a disgrace. Mr Bevan said there had been “disgraceful and quite unjustified” attacks on Mr Strachey and himself. “Every public man is entitled to privacy. He is entitled as much to his own private life as newspaper proprietors, Rothermere, Beaverbrook, Camrose. Kemsley, or Layton. You do not write anything about them.”

• However, Mr Bevan ended on a conciliatory note. “I was full of apprehension about what might happen to me here, and I am exceedingly grateful for your tolerance and mercy. I thought it better to he as frank as I could, so you could see me at my worst—and he able to say that any alteration would be an improvement.”