PRESS DEFENDED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23057, 7 June 1938, Page 12

PRESS DEFENDED

FREEDOM AT STAKE GOVERNMENT'S ATTACK forerunner of repression HON! A- HAMILTON'S VIEWS rby telegraph—press association] HAMILTON, Monday The view that recent outbursts by Cabinet Ministers agarnst the press New Zealand showed that the Gtn J ment was "looking for » by H tl,. during his'speecb in Hamilton to-night. "I have had my share of newspaper publicity," said Mr. Hamilton, and I have had my .hare of newspaper ■ enricism but 1 have never had cause to complain about either. I do not mean that I have not been annoyed sometimes by criticism, but I have recognised that it has been fairly an honestly made and that it will do n no harm. Public men should be prepared to face criticism and should not take shelter in abuse of their critics. The Public and News "In this attack which Mr. Nash and his colleagues are making on the newspapers, they want the public to think that the freedom of the press is some sort of privilege enjoyed bv the proprietors and editors. The freedom which we are trying to guard is the freedom of the people to receive and read the news of ihe day, uncensored and uninfluenced by any Government that may happen to be in power. "There have been so many attacks on the newspapers lately," Mr. Hamilton continued, "that it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the people are being prepared sooner or later for an attempt of some kind to restrict the freedom of the press. Choice Before People "Sooner or later, of course, if the Government achieves its aim and establishes a Socialist dictatorship, there will have to be an end to freedom of thought and criticism. The peoplo will have to decide whether they are going to follow Russia back to the dark ages of repression or whether they arc going to stand with Britain for democratic freedom. "The Government's attitude, ' Mr. Hamilton added, "reminds mo of the freedom of choice which Mr. Henry Ford was alleged to have given to all purchasers of the cars which he once manufactured. They could have their own choice of colour, provided it was black. In the' same way, the Government offers to all civil servants, all newspaper correspondents and all editors complete freedom to express their opinions—as long as they are red." POLITICAL SPEECHES BETTER TO READ THAN HEAR COMMENT BY MR. F. W. DOIDGE [BY telegraph —OWN correspondent] PAEROA, Monday "Of all the fantastic claims made by the Socialist Party, the most fantastic is the claim that members of the Government do not receive fair treatment from the press," said Mr. F. \Y. Doidge, National Party candidate for Tauranga, in an address at Paeroa on Saturday. , , . "Those who listen to national broadcasts of speeches by members of the Government and then'read the reports of those same speeches in the succeeding issues of the daily press must appreciate the kindly offices of the newspaper," continued Mr. Doidge. "Invariably people -must be struck by the fact that those speeches read much better than they sound. "The reason is obvious. The reporter, in "kindly toleration, wipes out crudities, rounds off the edges, and makes sense of what was originally very often a loose and rambling statement. Some day a newspaper should reproduce verbatim one of these broadcast speeches, with all its reiterations, profundities and frequent misuse of the King's English, and then we would have the critics going on their knees and begging for mercy, and a return to the present kindly treatment they receive from the press."