PRESS AND RADIO CENSORSHIP

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 305, 20 September 1943, Page 6

PRESS AND RADIO CENSORSHIP

Mr. Scrimgeour’s Charges

“A dictatorship is robbing tile people of New Zealand of knowledge of not only what, is essential for a successful war effort, but of u successful peace,” said Aircraftman C. G. Scrimgeour, Independent candidate for Wellington Central, when, addressing ISOO electors at the De Luxe Theatre Inst night, he attacked the drastic censorship control exercised by tile Prime Dlinister, Dlr. Eraser, under the war regulations. Democracy would be ineffective, he said, till Press ami radio were controlled only by the rule of strict military necessity, and. not so as to restrict, the liberty of the individual. Aircraftman .Scrimgeour cited instances of alleged interference with his persontil mail for internal political reasons only, and of the banning of publication by Press and radio of Wendel AA’illkie’s advocacy that freedom of speech should be confined only by military necessity. He said that an instruction had been given the Commercial Broadcasting Service, after Mr. Fraser had ? _ returned from England and discarded his Socialistic ideas on the subject, that everything in relation to “finance” had to be banned from the air. Dlr. Brian punninghani had been suspended, on a trivial excuse, from speaking over the air in the Crusade for Social Justice, because, said Dlr. Scrimgeour. it was not in accordance with the policy of Mr. Fraser. A radio script written on the life of the Labour leader, the late Dlr. Harry Holland, was got readv for the aiv, but after the first of the episodes had gone over station IZB, Auckland, it was banned by Me. Fraser, who, the speaker claimed, was “not worthy to wipe Harry Holland 3 boots.” (Applause.) The script was at present in the records library of station 2ZB, and would remain there as long as Dlr. Fraser remained.

The point was made by Aircraftman Scrimgeour that laws and regulations were designed to fix the responsibility for facts and statements, and allow freedom to the individual, but Dlr. Fraser, he suggested, took to himself the divine right to anticipate statements and enforce a censorship on thoughts and words if he felt they were harmful to his personal interest. He also used the radio to attack his critics and opponents, who bad no right of reply. Both Aircraftman and Dlrs. .Scrimgeour at present were not permitted to broadcast. Aircraftman Scrimgeour made a series of definite charges of misuse of censorship authority by Dlr. Fraser and his colleagues to further their personal political ambitions. The candidate detailed eases of the banning of radio broadcasts and individual speakers, the withholding of articles from newspaper publication both within mid beyond New Zealand, and the use of wartime censorship autocracy to suppress any views on matters not necessarily related to the war effort which even remotely conflicted with Dlr. Fraser’s personal views. Dealing specifically with radio, _ Dlr. Scrimgeour referred to the restriction of his own broadcasts, including the banning of the “Man in the Street”' session allegedly because of a' breach of good taste in applauding John A. Lee in a valedictory broadcast referring to Mr. Savage shortly after his death. Dealing at length with this and other similar incidents, the candidate concluded with a reference to a broadcast relating.to the U.S.S.R., and at last night’s meeting he played to the audience a recording of these two mentioned sessions highlighting the offending material.”