PRIVATE LIFE AND PRESS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25737, 24 February 1949, Page 5

PRIVATE LIFE AND PRESS

BRITISH MINISTER’S COMMENT

RECENT REPORT ABOUT PRINCESS MARGARET LONDON, February 22. The Attorney-General (Sir Hartley Shawcross), in an address to the Newspaper Society in London to-day, discussed “invasion of privacy” by newspapers, and referred to Princess Margaret's recent week-end in Sussex. He said: “When the visit of a member of the Royal Family to a village church was headlined ‘Princess With New Boy Friend,’ many people felt that the permissible limit had been well exceeded. The paper’s readers were affronted and the paper very properly apologised.” The Attorney-General continued: “There is, I think, growing public concern at what seems to be some tendency to publish details of the private lives and affairs of people who, whether otherwise in the public eye or not, have no desire for sensational publicity of that kind. I know that it is not easy to draw the line. Even the public man who enjoys very few rights should be permitted, within his domestic circle, his personal bereavements and so forth, the right to be left alone.” Discussing the law of libel, Sir Hartley Shawcross said: “The law ought not to be such as to stifle discussion, and on the whole I think that the importance to the community of a full and frank discussion of matters of public interest may—I say may —outweigh the importance of protecting the individual against any possible injury to his reputation. “It is for the newspapers to ensure, as an internal matter, that the right to publish the truth is not abused. It is the duty of the newspapers to report what they believe to be the truth where the truth is of public interest, . and to comment fearlessly. That is the essential duty of a free press.”

Governor-General of Ceylon. Buckingham Palace has announced that the King, on the recommendation of the Government of Ceylon, has approved the appointment of Lord Soulbury as Governor-General of Ceylon. Lord Soulbury, who presided over the Commission which recommended selfgovernment for Ceylon, will succeed Sir Henry Monk-Mason at the end of 1949. —London, February 23.