THE PRESS AND WAR

Grey River Argus, 20 December 1940, Page 16 (Supplement)

THE PRESS AND WAR

DEMANDS OF THE TIMES

Censorship and Paper

Shortage

Few industries remain unaffected in times of great international conflicts. Many are called upon for greater efforts to supply tne goods and equipment required for the armed forces and additional workers must be employed to cope with the immediate demand. Other industries are required to divert their attention from peace time manufactures fo the greater demand of the implements of war, of aeroplanes, ships, guns, tanks, ammunition, or bombs, and the training of men skilled in their construction becomes of vital importance. War brings to these industries the pressing demand for immediate production, whilst other sections of the community find that their work has 'lessened almost to the stopping point. Decreased imports of manufactured articles finds the middle-man with i less business to maintain his stall, whilst the building Up of sterling exchanges, through import restriction, causes others to turn their attention to the difficulties which can be surmounted with greater or lesser etDependent entirely on the importation of the most important material required for their activities—newsprint—newspaper proprietors cannot face the issue in a war with the air of nonchalance that many others are able to preserve. The presence on the direct trade routes of enemy ships and raiders and the consequent thought that essential supplies of newsprint may not reach their destination, is only one of the problems set the industry. The greater problem is the source of supply. In the early stages of the present conflict, prior to the successful invasion by the Germans of Norway, and the following blockade of the Baltic Sea, the securing of newsprint did not cause grave concern. It is a well-known fact that Sweden is the world’s largest producer of newsprint, with Canada and the United States as her closest competitors. Finland and Norway also figure amongst the world’s leading newsprint producers. Norway in the hands of the enemy, with Finland and Sweden cut off from contact with Britain through the German control of the Baltic, are no longer able to trade in newsprint with Britain, whence the greater part of their production has for many years been exported. New Zealand and Australia depended largely on the British market for newsprint, although in recent years Canada has supplied most of New Zealand’s requirements. Much more urgent than newsprint has become the demand on British ships for space to export goods and war materials to the overseas Dominions, so that this country has had to turn to Canada and the United States for supplies. But Britain is also in need of war materials from America, and sterling funds are being used mainly for this purpose. 'Tire result is that Canada, which already has to meet the British demand for newsprint previously supplied by the Scandinavian countries, has become almost the sole source of supply for New Zealand. Here again shipping space must be conserved and newspapers have had to reduce the size of publications to ensure that supplies will not become entirely depleted. These are problems confronting the newspaper industry in New Zealand. Further restrictions on size may yet be required, unless the war comes to a speedy termination.

Apart altogether from the difficulty of securing supplies, is the question of cost. In the last war, the price of newsprint rose to twelve times its prewar cost. Already, with short supplies, the cost has trebled in the past eighteen months. Further rises seem inevitable, and the newspaper reader may find that his twopence no longer gives him ten, twelve or twenty sheets of paper each day. With the reduction in size must come a reduction in reading matter and it is to be hoped, more fact and less propaganda, whether internally or from overseas. CENSORSHIP AND COMMONSENSE. On the editorial side of newspaper production, the topic most discussed in these times is that of censorship, concerning which there have been numerous complaints in England and in Australia. There items of obvious interest, known to thousands of people, have been suppressed for various reasons, and in England there has been a constant outcry both by home and overseas correspondents, against what has been termed a too rigid censorship. At this distance, it is not possible to find a satisfactory answer to those protests, but it remains a fact that New Zealanders may be in possession of more information about what is happening in the British Isles than the residents of those islands are able to gather from their newspapers.

But every item of foreign origin, sent to Australia or New Zealand, is subject to censorship before it leaves London, and it may well be that- the news we receive is being treated in much the same manner as the news the English public gets from day to day. Internally, New Zealand has a censorship, directed by the Director of Publicity, whose duty it is to see that nothing published in this country will be calculated to interfere with our war effort. That the editors of the Dominion have full confidence in the censorship administration of this country is apparent from the fact that only minor breaches of the regulations, clone probably with no thought of evasion, have come to the notice of the authorities.

Censorship is a matter of commonsense, both to those to whom it applies ’ and to those in charge of its administration. New Zealand newspapers, generally, have had cause to complain and the censors likewise have had few causes for action tributes, alike to the commonsense shown 'in the administration of the regulations, and that sense of responsibility which characterises the newspaper of to-day. When it is considered that there are 52 daily papers in the Dominion, and nearly 250 publications at least monthly, the task of censorship is no light one. That it has been so effective, without in any way stiflling public criticism 6f

the war effort or internal economy, says much for those in charge. REPORTING IN WARTIME. Nacessary restrictions on the activities of sports bodies and.numerous organisations which are of a public or semi-public character, tend to reduce the amount of work a reporter is called upon to undertake in times of peace. .The placing of the whole of a country’s resources in position to render the greatest possible contribution to the war effort reduces the public expenditure on peace-time projects, and as a result, many meetings of public bodies, whose one aim is the improvement of conditions, as they see them, for those associated with their activities, undergo a serious curtailment . Consequently, the amount they are able to demand from the public purse diminishes almost to vanishing point and their work takes on a much less important public aspect. They become, in effect, mere talking shops with no hope of achievj'pg their objects. Restrictions on many classes of imports, made even more necessary by the need to conserve sterling funds for Britain s benefit, have fortunately tended to prevent many fantastic proposals from finding the public light through newspaper columns. On the other hand, journalism presents far more difficulties in war time. Staffs in every part of the Dominion have become depleted by the desire of journalists and newspaper workers to answer the call to the colours. Their absence from the newsroom imposes additional work on their colleagues, for the obligation of an employer to re-arrange his staff on their return to civil life, has naturally meant that new men are not being trained who will become additional burdens on the country, through unemployment in their industry or profession when the men return from military life. This is one aspect of journalistic life which passes unnoticed by the public, who do not generally realise that newspaper staffs are depleted to an even greater degree than most of the every-day industries and occupations of the Dominion.

Then censorship makes its demand lon the activities a journalist may, pursue in war time. This, too, must’ be regarded as essential, because the present war is being fought under vastly different conditions from any conflict previously engaged 'in by the Empire. The rapid development of transport, the increasing perfection of radio, and many other means, give gclden opportunities to unpatriotic people to upset the balance of the country’s contribution to the common effort. Anything committed to print, becomes their property, and, justifiably, the country demands that all printed matter, shall conform to a standard which gives to an enemy no information that can effect the safety of the whole' community. The speeches of public men—their suggestions as to what has been or should be. done in the interests of defence — may even exceed the mark set by censorship regulations, and it is here that the journalist has to spend anxious moments deliberating on what may, and what may not, be permitted to become public property through the press. The obligation is firstly that of the reporter, then the subeditor, and finally the editor. In this respect, New Zealand journalists have maintained a h'igh standard, for there have been extremely few breaches of the regulations, those which have occurred being ’due largely to oversights. What the reporter loses in the matter of work, through war restrictions of all kinds is more than made up for in the additional diligence demanded of h'im under the censorship, and the greater amount of work which must be accomplished by depleted staffs. Beth demands are certain to increase as the war progresses towards its conclusion with the victory of our forces.