NEWSPAPER PRESS

Hawera Star, Volume LI, 20 February 1932, Page 15

NEWSPAPER PRESS

SERAHCE! TO THE, WORLD. __ MIRROR. OF PUBLIC OPINION ■"We are told that the world is to each individual only wliat. he knows about it; that even the imagination cannot build a true conception of the world without facts to base it on, ’ said i Air G. AY. Earle, president of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association in addressing the Auckland Chamber of Commerce this week. “The more facts and the more accurately those facts are assembled the Jess danger of misunderstandings and the greater the prospects of sound progress. It is the business of the daily newspaper to provide its readers with the facts —to, as quickly as possible, day by day give full tidings of all urgent tilings that have happened or are. about to happen. It gathers, compiles, selects, edits and publishes information about tendencies and events that are of immediate interest and concern. The range must cover- as far as possible the whole interests of the community, so' that we may have an informed public opinion ; so that accurate judgments may be reached in. the conduct of the every day affairs of life; so that the trend of public feeling may be truly gauged and public policy soundly shaped to meet the needs of changing conditions, and so that above all things the. public welfare may be wisely served and safeguarded. “On a memorable occasion, the first Imperial Conference held in London in 190-9, the then Prime Minister, Air Asquith, in the course of a reference to the daily press, expressed this opinion : —• “ ‘lt is .the baldest of truisms,’ lie said l , ‘to assert that, at any rate in the interval between one dissolution and' another, the Press is the oniy authentic mirror and reflection of the public opinion of the time - . - There is no one who has held any responsible position in public affairs here, who will not admit that the Press, be its shortcomings what they may, is, to the Government of the day, the most potent, the most flexible and the most trustworthy auxiliary, which in the performance of its primary duty to keep in close touch with the national life, ally Government in any country can possess.’

“Here is- a recognition from a great statesman (one who in his day had suffered not a little at the hands of a hostile press) —a recognition of the important part played by the press a« a reflex of public opinion—as an interpioter of the national life. The great mass of the people in all civilised countries to-day are dependent on their newspapers for information as to what is going on in the world and its possible bearing on their own lives and fortunes. It will then be apparent that- it is. a matter of deep concern to the community —any community—that its newspapers should be in a position to develop- full and reliable news- services. ADVERTISING AND PROGRESS.

“It will be. seen, therefore, that in considering the newspaper in its relation to the daily life of the community, the advertiser must be given a place of prominence. He is a. vital part of the economic structure of the newspaper. Hfs contribution to the cost assists- the newspaper to improve the standard of its news services to the public without extra cost to the public. ; the improved news services increase the number of readers ; and, to complete the cycle, the advertiser gets liis return in the benefits which accrue to him from, the increased volume of circulation and the greater influence which the newspaper exercises. “And just a.s the improved news services have widened the range of information available to the public, and by so doing broadened their outlook, enlarged their ideas, and stimulated their enterprise, so- the growth of newspaper advertising has played an important part, not only in developing trade and industry, but in changing the habits and shaping the lives of the people.”