NEWSPAPERS IN NEW ZEALAND

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25276, 30 August 1947, Page 8

NEWSPAPERS IN NEW ZEALAND

“GOOD FACTUAL REPORTING ” COMMENTS BY DR. A. M. FINLAY, MJ*. (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, August 29. While newspapers in New Zealand were good when compared with those in the rest of the world, there was room for improvement, said Dr. A. M. Finlay (Government, North Shore), speaking in the Budget debate in the House of Representatives to-day. , Newspapers in New Zealand had 3 > , higher duty than, for example, Of J press m England, because of the large number of cultural publications there, he said. Although he had asked a question about the press earlier in the sesdoa his object was not for the press to H taken over by the State That was th® last thing he wanted to see. He preferred to see the press become better and freer by its own efforts. T P e factual reporting of New Zealand newspapers was good, but their interpretation of facts was more subject to criticism. This reflected » national characteristic, for most New Zealanders were more interested in tacts tnan in their meanings or consequences. Dr. Finlay said that present newspaper staffs were quite competent to specialise in various fields, but the monopolistic inertia” of present ownerships hampered this. There w« too great a tendency to accept ‘‘handouts”—whether from a Cabinet Minister or from the Chamber of Commerce —as presenting full facte on a quet“OP-. .Newspapers should insist oo obtaining and presenting full fad* even if that involved worrying the Government more. Failure to conduct newspapers on 8 more progressive basis had led in recent years to many journalists leaving the profession in New Zealand, either for other occupations or for other countries, he said. Dr. Finlay made a plea for more controversial discussions on the radio and said he was bound to admit that the radio to-day was not as free for controversy as were the newspapers,-