The Press SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1934. The Press Conference

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21086, 10 February 1934, Page 12

The Press SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1934. The Press Conference

The annual conferences of the New Zealand Pi-ess Association and of the Newspaper Proprietors' Association, which will open at Hanmer Springs on Monday, are occupied with a national service indispensably important to tb° people. Much of the business dealt with, particularly by the special committees, is technical, unintelligible to the average reader, and of interest to him only in its results, as they appear in the form and face and character of his newspaper. Other, broader considerations it is as much the business of the public to estimate as of those who serve it; and the discussions, that centre upon the standards ol'' the press, their maintenance and improvement, concern tho public out- 1 side the conference rooms as j

(directly as the delegates within | them. That these standards are a!(ready very high New Zealand aeI knowledges in its appetite -for newspaper reading and has again and again been told by visitors from all parts of the world; and the second testimony is of special value, because it is comparative. The circulation of oversea nav/spapers is too slight in New Zealand to enable many readers to measure for themselves the press of their country against that of other parts of the Empire or of the United States; but travellers and others, whose taste or duty widens their survey of current journalism, know that the best here is not shamed by the best anywhere else, and that the decline here from the best to what is below is Jess abrupt and deep than the decline anywhere else, or almost anywhere. Partly this is due to the organisation of the Dominion press to command comprehensive national and world news services, supplemented by the individual newspaper's special and local services. Partly it is du.: to the fact that co-operation, valuable up to this point, has never gone beyond it; the benefits of competition have not been lost, or tuose of independence. Partly it is due to a particular tradition of respect for news, for fullness and clarity in news, which may be traced to earlier days, when the importance of news was raised by the very difficulty of getting it. Partly it is due, perhaps, to the restraining conservatism of a small and remote community. At least it is certain that some disagreeable tendencies of many English and American newspapers—the best apart, the finest in the world—have not yet appeared j or are scarcely to be noticed in the Dominion; the tendency, for instance, to treat readers as children or, if as adults, then as silly or sordid ones only. And to say this, of course, is only to praise indirectly a public which deserves to be praised directly. The New Zealander has newspapers of a standard which he himself, in the end, sets up and supports. He receives a full, indeed an elaborate, and impartial news service. He is given the credit, and is entitled to the credit, of wanting his news systematically illustrated, interpreted, and discussed. His judgment is appealed to, when necessary, by reasonable and informed advocacy. And there is not a single interest, finally, of any considerable breadth and depth which he will not find included in the scope of such a metropolitan newspaper as "The Press." These are not standards easy to maintain or to advance. They call for constant care and thought, constant vigilance, constant anticipation of to-morrow. The conferences at Hanmer Springs next week signify, first and fore- ■ most, that the press is intent upon! these duties. j