ITCH TO BE UP TO DATE

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 48, 25 August 1923, Page 9

ITCH TO BE UP TO DATE

THE PRESS AND INTERNATIONALISM ,

EX-MINISTERS AND JOURNALISM.

(moil OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 6th July. Some interesting sidelight on journalism were revealed at tho annual dinner of the British International Association of Journalists when the Swedish Minister (Baron Palmstierna) referred to the roecnt visit of the world's Press to Sweden, and said that Lord Buniham's speech on internationalism would produce an effect that would be felt more and more in the days to come. It was an excellent thing to bring journalists together from all parts of the world, as had. recently been done in Sweden, and on the Swedish side they greatly appreciated the leading part that Lord Burnhani had taken. Such a gathering of journalists', from all over the world would do enormous . good to the world's affairs, and it behoved everyone to work" for such efforts. .:'■•'■ '

Mr. Ronald M'Neil (Parliamentary Under-Seeretary- for Foreign Affairs) pro; posed "The British Internatioiial Association of Journalists," and expressed the view that 000 of the chief obstacles to .the peace of the world was the lack of sympathy and complete understanding of the standpoint of others, and the international Press could do an enormous amount of good as the interpreter between one nation and anothor. Speaking as an old journalist, he was able from personal knowledge to bear testimony to the fact that in no profession was >th*ere a more hearty spirit of comradeship or a greater and keener esprit de corps than in tho profession of journalism, and he did not think the least important part of international journalism was to enable the fellow-craftsmen of all. lands to meet each other from time to time. It would be too much to oxpect that any newspaper would ever be content to record events aftor they had occurred instead of before. (Laughter.) There was the same itch not only to be up to date, but to be in advance of date in attributing policies to Governments or decisions of momentous effect which had-no foundation in fact. (Laughter.) That had recently happened. Then there was tho case of the -visiting sportsman who was tho victim of bad manners on the part of a section of the crowd. That sportsman, in a moment of very natural and very pardonable petulance, said he would never come to this country again. It was the sort of thing anyone might say on the spur of the moment, not in the least meaning it, and hardly imagining it would be remembered an hour later. But that incident was seized upon by the Press it was cabled across the' ocean with 'the headline 'Attack on British Sportsmen' and it was magnified, and a certain amount of unnecessary offence was given In this instance the Press rather acted the part of a microscope, which revealed the nasty inhabitants of a glass of water but _ which, if we chose to quench our .thirst with it, was perfectly innocuous. Therefore it seemed to him that in discharging the functions of interpreter between nation and nation reticence had its place, as well as speech.

EX-MINISTERS AS, BLACKLEGS Sir William Berry declared himself surprised that Mr. M'Nei] should talk about a journal attributing to the Government of which he was such a distinguished mombor, a definite lino of policy which turned out to be mistaken, for he himself did not remember any journal which had attributed to tlic Gov ernment any definite line of nolicv alall- ILaughter.-) When iop , M r fM&Ju talked of the space which was given to tho remarks of the unfortunate American golfer, • he xyas forgetting that journalists had to fill their papers, and they found the various Government Departments today, particularly the Foroign Office, were so singularly reticent about tho real facts of a situation that the journalists could only guess, and it seemed to him that whim thoy. guessed rightly, as thoy mostly did, it was . Ministers who were mostly annoyed (Laughter.) To-day most of the ex-Mmistors seemed to be blacklegs in the held of journalism. (Laughter) It ; seemed to have become the fashion whenever a grateful country decided that it was necessary, for a Minister to retire for a temporary or permanent period, that whereas, as a matter of fact, with very few .exceptions, the country rKrl Z/t----care at all (Laughter.) Tfiere was to his personal knowledge, one case of an ex-Minister anxious to publish a book who started by asking 10,000 guineas' and after various-negotiations fmallv ar' cepted the sum of film. And even Yon the poor publisher lost on his bargain!