PUBLICITY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 247, 18 October 1926, Page 7

PUBLICITY.

| QUESTION OF PUBLICITY. j 1 i B.M.A. AND SIR A. LANE. | (By Cable.— Press Association.—Copyright.) (Received 12 nooa.l LOXDOX. October 17. The British Medical Association's proposal to supply medical knowledge to newspapers under the supervision of a committee of doctors and editors is already dead, according lo Sir Win. i Arhnthnot Lane. ! lie said lie knew it would fall flat, j The only men of distinction who spoke in that connection told the council that newspapers would laugh at them. The medical secretary of the B.M.A. (Dr. A. Cox. 0.8.E.L states: -The j success of the idea depends upon its I reception by newspapers, but my experi- j ence of the Pies- shows that it docs not } want news but sensations, which cannot j be obtained through such a committee. There is a strong feeling among doctors : whose names count in the profession. I though tiiey are not appearing in tic-! newspapers, that the Press is trying to! break down our traditions. An intensiii-j cation of that impression would mean 1 that it would be impossible to get the- • ! doctors to i,pen their mouths under any circumstances." A cab'e message on Saturday stated i that Sir Thomas .!. Ilorder. in an I address on the aim- and methods of I health and education, asserted that newspapers were the most powerful medium of instructing the public in' health matter*. "We mu.-t do our best to secure their cn-o»>oration." he said, j He saw some possibility of nn authori- • tative health column in the daily Pre« I but newspapers must not clamour for! signed articles. The sneaker visualised a representative control body designed to command public confidence and including laymen, but he asserted that his complaint against the Medical Council was not its strincencv but its laxity. ' Tbe question of publicity has always' been n linn" of contention between Sir] Arbuthnot T.ane nnd the B.M.A. through I differences in which, it was said. h? ' resigned from the association, though I this bus been -inee denied. I I