MINERS AND THE PRESS

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 5 August 1919, Page 5

MINERS AND THE PRESS

WELLINGTON JOURNALISTS PROTEST.

The secretary of the Wellington Journalists Onion has torwarded to Mr J Aribuckle (secretary of the Miners' federation) a letter of protest which states, inter alia: '

'lhe members of the Wellington Journalists^ Lrnion note with extreme regret u.e charges of unfair reporting made by delegates representing the Miners lederauon at ih e opening of the mining conference at Wellington on Friday last. They feel indignant tnat such unwarranted charges snould be made—charges which reflect on the honesty of working journalists general. 4 il3 not tne first occasion on which Labor speakers have attacked the honesty ot reporters. That reporters are suborneu Dy those in authority over them to color or give unfair reports is the lie that we desire to see nailed to the counter once and for all. home ot our members with a wide experience extending over periods of from tnirty to forty years state positively that they have never been asked to impart "color" to their reports nor have these reports ever been "doctored." Our opinions are fully expressed m the following series of motions carried at a general meeting of the union, which I have been instructed to forward to you and to publish: (1) That this meeting of the Wellington Journalists' Industrial Union of Workers, representative of the reporting and reading staffs of the three Wellington daily newspapers, voices ~ its srong protest against the statement by Mr O'Rourke, th c miners' delegate at the coal mining conference, that "in the past they had not received the impartial reports that they desired, such statement, when used in support of the miners' objection to the press being admitted to the conference; being intended to convey the meaning that tlie members of th e - reporting staffs of the three Wellington dailies supply biassed reports, or that such reports are "doctored" in the employers' interest* after they reach the office and before they appear in the paper. (2) That this meeting requests Mr O'Rourke to substantiate ' his statement or withdraw it.

(3) That this meeting strongly resents such imputations being cast upon the honor of Wellington working journalists, who have always endeavored to supply honest, faithful reports of public meetings and industrial disputes, and in fairness to the proprietors o§ the three papers upon which the members present are employed assures the public that in no case have the reports sent in been "doctored" in the w?ay imDuted.

(4) That it be pointed out to the general public that if a public speaker has occasion to question the correctness of the utterances attributed to him he always has redress open through writing to the paper concerned, and no case is known where the publication of such letter has been refused.