Political Capital From The Wahine

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26514, 31 August 1951, Page 8

Political Capital From The Wahine

In a further statement, printed today, on his political references to the equipment of the Wahine, Mr A. McLagan again misrepresents the actions and motives of “The “Press”; and he does not scruple to distort our statements by quoting selected passages out of their context. We have already explained our reasons for refusing a letter from a correspondent about the Wahine’s equipment, and our advertising department’s refusal to accept over the telephone an advertisement from the same person on the same subject. Mr McLagan asserts that both were “ suppressed ” for a

political purpose. We are quite content to let the public choose between the conflicting views. The public will also have to judge the validity of Mr McLagan’s claims that he has not commented upon or speculated about the causes of the stranding of the Wahine, A simple test can be applied to these claims. Those who heard Mr McLagan’.: political address and those who read the newspaper reports of it need only ask themselves three questions. Did Mr McLagan make his references to the Wahine in a way that would lead his audience to form conclusions abotit the possible cause of the disaster? Did he make them in a way which would seem, to a person of ordinary common sense, to impute blame? What was his purpose in raising the question at s political meeting? If the answer to the first two questions.is “No”, we have wronged Mr McLagan The public must judge. It will be remembered that at his political meeting Mr McLagan alleged that there was a deep newspaper conspiracy to “ suppress ’’ information about the Wahine which might be embarrassing to the Government, We do not take responsibility, of course, for the actions and opinions of other newspapers; but it is relevant to point out that the quotation from another newspaper to which he refers in his statement this morning goes a long way toward answering this unwarranted and unsupported allegation. Mr McLagan is fond of asserting that the newspapers print only what suits their political policy. He also might ask himself a question. If “ The Press ” does so discriminate in the news it prints, and if it is in fact anxious to “ suppress ” facts about the Wahine, is it likely that “ The Press ” would have reported Mr McLagan’s original speech, drawn attention to it in the editorial columns, and opened its news columns to his further statements? It so happens that this is the normal practice of “ The Press ” where matters of public interest are raised for public discussion; nevertheless, it is a complete answer to Mr McLagan’s ridiculous charge.