VITAL TO PEACE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22362, 21 June 1947, Page 5

VITAL TO PEACE

EXCHANGE OF NEWS WORLD ENLIGHTENMENT REMOVAL OF RESTRAINTS (10 a.m.) LONDON, June 20. The widening of Reuter’s charter to permit its ownership and control by all parts of the Empire was described by Mr. R. A. Henderson, chairman of the Australian Associated Press, as compelling evidence of the stirring force for unity in Empire affairs at a time when events had spelled, to some, nothing but disintegration. Mr. Henderson, who is the first Australian director of Reuter’s, was speaking at a dinner given in his honour by the general manager of Reuter’s, Mr. C. Chancellor. Mr. Henderson added that Australians and New Zealanders, returning to Britain over the years, were overwhelmed with the pride, joy and exultation of being British and by being in the source of their birthright. The Australian-New Zealand partnership with Reuter’s was the beginning of a conception which brought the Empire’s newspapers together in a body dedicated to the gathering and distribution of the world’s news throughout the world. Mr. Henderson said the press had a grave responsibility in seeing that the world's peoples were well and truly informed, and were given the news fully, fairly and objectively. It would be calamitous in “this age of fear, unrest and uncertainty” if those whose responsibility it was to enlighten and inform were prevented from doing so either by their own inadequacies or prejudices, by the restraints exercised by Governments, or by the lack of free and efficient facilities. A free press dedicated to publishing the world’s news, was the only means of achieving peace and understanding by giving the fullest and freest opportunities to know other countries’ conditions and their views, desires and intentions