PRESS FREEDOM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 139, 15 June 1938, Page 12

PRESS FREEDOM.

VIGILANCE NEEDED. ESSENTIAL TO LIBERTY. IX.S. ATTORNEY STATES CASE. There has heen some discussion in ' the Lnitetl States during recent mouth* ' on the subject of the freedom of the Tress. A notable contribution to this', was made at Alb iny, New York State. | by Mr. Elisha Hanson, a noted lawyer of a-hin;rton. In addressing the Chamljer of Commerce at its annual dinner he contrasted the freedom of the; l're-s of America with the Government-! controlled Press of dictator-ridden' countries. j With the warning that "unless the! people of this country are vigilant in the protection of their risht to life, liberty and property," it would not be '"fantastic to assume that the experi- j ences of the people of Germany, of Italy, of France and of Spain will soon become ours." Mr. Hanson termed a i free Press "the cornerstone of liberty,'') without which "there would lie none of the other cherished rights as citizens of the United States." Describing how free speech and the Press have been completely muzzled in ' Germany and Italy. Air. Hanson declared it to be an historical fact that ! "every advance which has been made in liberty for the masses, since the art of printing was invented, has been made by reason of the demand expressed through a courageous Press. "And it is an historical fact," he added, "that since the art of printing was invented, and particularly during recent years, every loss of liberty that ha-s been sustained has been preceded by a suppression of the Press by those who seizeid abitrary power." For "Benefit of People." "Freedom of the Press as written into our Federal Constitution," he went on, "'was not written there for the benefit of publishers as a class or as a group, but for the benefit of the people as a whole, and those who would curtail or restrain this freedom in any way whatsoever may be characterised as enemies of liberty. "Without freedom of the Press there could not be freedom of speech, for freedom of speech is the child of freedom of the Press." Asserting that "the Press is the only agency for the gathering and dissemination of information that is free from Government control, exercised either directly or indirectly," Mr. Hanson described how the Government at Washington controls the radio. "In the United States," he said, "while the Govern men t does not operate the radio, it so regulates it and controls its operation that any administration in Washington can command the use of its facilities at any time and deny that use to its opponents. * "Here broadcasting stations are licensed by the Government. An offending station can be put to sleep for all time, and stations have been suppressed on finding that their programmes are contrary to public interests. Stations are regulated by the Federal Communications' Commission, a body of seven political appointees." Refers to Labour Efforts. Pointing out that motion pictures, both in this country and abroad, "are agencies of communications" and like the radio "are particularly sensitive to Government control," but that "the Press cannot be controlled in any such way," Mr. Hanson declared, however, that "efforts have been made to control" the Press, "and when they fail, to undermine it." Telling of laws passed in Minnesota, Louisiana and Arizona to "fetter the Press," Mr. Hanson, with a reference to the fight between the American Federation of Labour and the Committee for Industrial Organisation, but without mentioning either by name, alluded to the efforts of organised labour to control the Press, through the American Newspaper Guild, a CJ.O affiliate, which he also failed to mention by name. "We are to-day witnessing a great controversy between conflicting forces," he said, "each seeking control over organised labour. And it is significant that each of those forces has sought to control channels of information by directing its lieutenants not to discuss their business with newspaper n; n not affiliated with them." "Just as the Press should not place itself under obligation to the Government," he declared, "so should it refrain from other alliances which, by their very nature, would restrain it from I independent treatment of news. Describes Propaganda. | "America is the only nation in the world to-day whose Press is free from official restraint in some form or other and whose great news-gathering agencies are equally free from restraint. Xn official of oar Government either has the power or can exercise the power to tell a newspaper in this country what to paint or what not to print." j In contrast with this assertion he! described the vast propaganda systems of the European countries which are ruled by dictators. "We want no such condition in thej United States," he insisted, adding, 1 however, that it was "an astounding j fact that during the last five years, in what many believe to be in direct violation of law, our Government at Washington has created a great propaganda machine which daily is grinding out information concerning Its philosophy and a programme and distributing that information to millions of the citizens of this country at public expense." Declaring that "the American people are entitled to have their information not only about affairs of Government, but about all other public matters, free from the control, direct or indirect, of those concerned."' he said, "as long as you have a Press courageous enough to battle those in authority who attempt to restrain it in the exercise of its function of gathering and disseminating information free from any form of restraint or control by Government. State or Federal, just so long will you be free to gather, as you have done here to-night. Just so long, and no longer, will yon hive liberty in America." There is nothin? in the speech of this prominent American that does not apply with equal force to this country j and the liberty of its people. 1

The Oranpe Society is a political association founded in Armagh in 179.5 to §||fe maintain Protestantism in Ireland. Since ■Plljllg, ©vwthrow of James 11. by William in Northern