The Press THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1957. Death of Mr P. H. N. Freeth.

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28250, 11 April 1957, Page 12

The Press THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1957. Death of Mr P. H. N. Freeth.

Our readers and the vast; number of his friends and! former colleagues in many parts I of the world will share our deep | sense of loss through the death; of Mr P. H. N. Freeth, editor off “ The Press ” for the last 24J years. For Hugo Freeth was not only a master of the craft of journalism but one of the friendliest and most tolerant of men. His distinguished career is recorded elsewhere on this page: but his training and experience in the hard school of daily journalism—in many ways a much harder school than it is today—are only part of the explanation of his success as an editor. The explanation is to be found in his high ideals and his strong convictions about the responsible place of the newspaper in the community, and about its duty, first and foremost, to serve the public interest. Most of all, it is to be found in his uncompromising belief in the highest standards of journalistic ethics, not as some kind of abstract ideals to be aimed at, but as working rules for the day-to-day conduct of every part of his paper. He believed that the first responsibility of a newspaper is to give the news —all the news—uncoloured by the views of the reporter or his employers. Believing firmly that the editorial columns are the only proper place for the expression of a newspaper’s own opinions, he deeply distrusted that increasingly pervasive feature of overseas

journalism—the signed column in which a writer does some special pleading for his paper's favoured policies. His dislike of another modern trend—the “angled” in which opinions are more or less subtly, and anonymously, introduced into a purported record of facts —amounted to horror.

A journalist who made his name as a first-class reporter in both New Zealand and Australia, Mr Freeth had no doubt that the most important man on a newspaper is the reporter, without whom the public could not be given the news. While he respected and ably maintained the literary tradition of “ The Press ”, Mr Freeth served the paper and its readers best by making the breadth and efficiency of its news services his first consideration. To this task, on his appointment at an unusually early age to the editorial chair in November, 1932, he brought vigour and enthusiasm. In the succeeding years he kept before his staff his own clear conception of the fundamentals of good journalism —to get the news and to present ft accurately and fairly in plain, straightforward language. Nor did he take a narrow view of “ news ”. He thought that New Zealand newspapers, above all others, had a duty to let thenreaders know what was going on in the world beyond; and his interest in Commonwealth and foreign telecommunications, ac-

tively pursued through the New Zealand Press Association, of which he was a director for many years, helped to secure for New r Zealand newspapers a cable news service hardly surpassed by those of the leading British and American dailies. Mr Freeth’s influence in journalism extends far beyond “ The Press No-one who worked under him could fail to absorb something of his devotion to the fundamentals of his craft; the youngest cadet reporter could go to him and be assured of patient advice and wise encouragement. Through the many journalists who have left his staff to work in other parts of New Zealand and in other countries, Mr Freeth’s influence has spread, more widely, perhaps, than he realised; and it is an influence that will persist, to the advantage of newspapers and their readers in many lands. If the reputation of “ The Press ” today stands high in public esteem, as we believe it does, the credit belongs in very great measure to the man who guided its editorial policy through a quarter of a century of good times and bad, of peace and war, all of which brought their problems for newspapers, including, often enough, dire shortages of newsprint, trained staff, and other resources. In that tune Mr Freeth earned and maintained the respect of all sections of the community, as he commanded the admiration and affection of his colleagues and staff. While impatient of

parochialism he was a staunch supporter of local interests, so long as they were kept in proportion. He'was a New Zealander before he was a Christchurch or a Canterbury or a South Island man. He loved the country for which he fought as an under-age soldier in the First World War; he cherished its way of life and was alert to defend the liberty of its people and its democratic institutions, of which the freedom of the press was only one. His humanity and sense of fairness were sure guides in his conduct of editorial policy; he was intolerant of few things except injustice and humbug. Because he sought no public office outside his profession, and, indeed, required few outlets for his vigour and enthusiasm except the paper which was so much a part of his life, Hugo Freeth was not widely known to the public. Few men in his position could have been more modest and self-effacing. Yet his was a gay and stimulating spirit. Among his professional colleagues and his fellowenthusiasts for golf—a game to which he brought an unorthodox light-heartedness as well as notable skill—he will be remembered gratefully as a fine journalist and a man whose friendship was not less to be valued because it was so readily given.