Greymouth Evening Star. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1948. Behind Closed Doors

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 October 1948, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1948. Behind Closed Doors

TRITE recent, statement by the president of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association, strongly condemning the growing practice of censoring news at its source, was as refreshing as it was timely. He was referring principally in the growing tendency on the part of local bodies to suppress information on public business which thc people are entitled to have and should have, and also to the frequency with which discussions on topics likely to prove controversial, and thus perhaps embarrassing to some members, are taken “m committee.”

The business of public bodies is public business and it is a negation of democracy to treat it otherwise. A local body, elected by the people, and administering the people’s funds, has no right to attempt to hide anything. By custom some proceedings are held in committee and are not reported. The tendency nowadays, however, is to abuse this practice. On the slightest excuse—sometimes there is no excuse at all—matters are decided in committee which should be discussed in open meeting. If there are personal details which should not bo published or other information of such a nature that it should not, in the public interest at the time, be divulged, then the press should be allowed to exercise its discretion, acting in cooperation with the responsible local body mon concerned. "But. naturally, a press that is continually baulked cannot be expected to bo as co-operative as it would otherwise be.

As the position is. in some oases decisions made in committee are not reported at all Io an open meeting as they should be. The least that should be done is to supply copies of these decisions to the press; it is entitled to have them. Tn other eases, decisions are often reported out of committee ami adopted without discussion. The people whose business it is thus have no means of ascertaining the considerations that determined a. particular decision or how members voted on it. In effect, they are presented with a fait accompli; they are denied a democratic right.

The duty of the press in the matter is clear. It is the medium through which the people expect to obtain, and should obtain, as full information as possible on the conduct of their business. The duty of local body members is equally clear. They are the trustees for the people; they should he prepared to provide the people with a full account of their stewardship. If their tendency is to shrink from the open and fresh air of publicity, keeping as much under cover as possible, then they are failing the people who have placed their trust in them.

The furtive, cut-and-dried manner often adopted by public bodies smells of dictation. The tendency can also be* observed in national affairs. There it is even more reprehensible. Citizens should have a better chance of curing this abuse ot authority if they move first on the local front. After all,' local bodies are the primary schools of democracy. II: their members can he persuaded of the propriety and large advantage of open meeting, and if, on the other hand, they can be convinced of the evil that can come out of secrecy, then the way will be cleared for the more democratic transaction of national business. There are unhealthy tendencies in New Zealand democracy; there are unhealthy tendencies in Greymouth. They should' not be tolerated.