Labour and the Press.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18456, 10 August 1925, Page 8

Labour and the Press.

No session of Parliament ever passes without a complaint from Mr H. E. Holland or some other member of the Labour Party that the newspapers do not treat the Labour members fairly in their reports of the proceedings in Parliament. It is difficult to believe—for our own part we do not believe; — that the Labour" members really think they are unfairly treated." Their complaints are merely part of their settled policy of creating the impression that Labour does not receive fair play at the* hands of the Press of New Zealand. The workers see for themselves the provision of ample space in the newspapers for the views of the Labour Party and its spokesmen inside and outside Parliament, and, if they are intelligent, the workers cannot think very highly of what these people say. Mr Holland knows this, and he accordingly seeks to persuade them that the newspapers regularly suppress great speeches full of fire and genius, shattering criticisms of the opponents of the revolutionary movement, eloquent and convincing orations the publication of which would shut up the opponents of revolution for ever. In the present case he is smarting under the indictment of the Reds which was presented by Mr Isitt, and particularly under the searching questions asked by the member for Christchurch North. It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that the charges of unfairness brought against the newspapers by Mr Holland are without foundation. So far as

" The Press" is concerned, they are ridiculous. We do confess that Ave very frequently reject the lengthy reports submitted to us by a certain Labour member wlio spends a great deal of time in seeking newspaper publicity, but otherwise we have long followed a rule which we have made for ourselves, that Labour shall have specially generous treatment in our news columns. We do this because wo believe that the best way to meet the revolutionary movement is to allow the public to see, through the utterances of Labour's own spokesmen, what that movement is, the fallacies with which it* is supported, and the spirit that animates its conductors. In printing the reports of Parliament we abridge the speeches of members of all Parties, and we should no more think of wasting our space by reprinting oftrepeated arguments or statements from the Goverment side than by reprinting the repetitions of the Labourites. The Labour Party's own paper is careful to suppress the views of Labour's opponents, and it is the only newspaper in New Zealand which is thus guilty of unfair discrimination. But we shall continue to treat all sides fairly The truth of the matter is that Mr Holland is blaming the newspapers for the shortcomings of his own side.