THREAT TO PRESS FREEDOM CITED

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28133, 23 November 1956, Page 13

THREAT TO PRESS FREEDOM CITED

<Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 22. The British Press Council said today that the freedom of the press has been under attack in so many countries that any new attempt to control newspapers must be vigorously opposed from the outset. Referring to a survey on “government pressures on the press” issued {•st year by the International Press Institute, the council’s third annual report said: “In spite of its long tradition of liberty, the British Commonwealth provides some glaring examples of pressures on press freedom.”

The report cited South African laws as an example. “Australian Government pressures on the press are also £oted. In February. 1953. the Acting Hrime Minister barred correspondents the Sydney “Daily Telegraph

' from his press conferences because the paper had criticised his policy The same form of pressure is exerted by state Governments in Australia, and public servants are not allowed to give announcements to the press, so that journalists have to approach a Minister direct, and his statements (according to one Australian editor) are frequently no more- than party propaganda,” said the report. “In Queensland, the Printers and Newspapers Act compels newspapers to register afresh each year and permits Government officials to inspect printing presses and seize material. In Victoria, newspapers may not be published or distributed on Sundays. “Another form of pressure in Australia is the invoking of traffic obstruction by-laws against newsvendors of some papers but not others, the report said.