A ROYAL MATCH

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12041, 20 January 1925, Page 6

A ROYAL MATCH

The allegation of. the' Prince of Wales’s Betrothal, which we treated as quite improbable, turns out to ’have been absolutely False. It has been officially declared !tp.. be without any foundation whatever. The incident will mike many wpnder what the ethics of good journalism are, or ought to be, in such matters. 'lt. is the province of journalism to make “scoops.” Journalists are pursuers of news, and whoever of them gets a news item, first makes a “sooop,” apd gets the credit' he deserves for it. Before journalism was, the making of “scoops” was a prerogative of Governments, civil anct city. For example, in the Forum of Old Home a board'Set up in a conspicuous place informed the citizens of the principal doings of the day before, and announced various features of the days coming and to come. The authorities exercised a discretion about wEat they considered good or had for the.gentle citizens of ;the time to know, and thus kept control of the contents of the board abovementioned. When journalism began in the germ, the “News Letter,” there arose a conflict between men of brilliant pen and hardy enterprise and the authorities of the day, jealous of their position 'and anxious according to their lights for tKb public welfare. As journalism developed from the .germ into' the semblance of the modern newspaper; this conflict grew more acute. Journalism had then/to face the pillory and the prison, and sometimes the, scythe of taxation swept many promising crops from the face .of the jouyialistic field. Eventually journalism ..obtained,, its liberty: The -etcny is ' thrilling; hut rather long for following here. Enough that before the full attainment of liberty by: the . penny press—long resisted by superior persons as | the embodiment -of bad,,writing; bad spelling, bad policies and bad taste, journalism had developed gsrpat services, in which pigeons, special messengers,'special sea craft, and special post-chaises ■: played some fine team work. /When the wire arrived it was promptly, annexed; and its use developed to its present form, so honoured among the’dishes of the' breakfast table//,; Tho making pf scoops continued to the date of all this perfection, with- its abundant / and .keen rivalry., Is anything, one asks, sacred ■ from, the unsolicited grasp of this: tre-mendous,-emulation? So 'many things are of legitimate interest-in the domain of contemporary history , which should be , truly unfolded ,that it'.is difficult to draw any line of retioence. But in the domestic line there should, fie po difficulty. Domestic events-involve the feelings -of ifidividualflj.who all have the rjgfit to.cover their hearts from the public eyte. iiomestSc events should not be published without . permission,; or,. in ■/other words; Official sanction. Therefore, the publication: of rumours ■of such events ought to he • barred. No journalist would ■ think of making a scoop out of the riimour of a betrothal j>f peasants. Why: should, he behave otherwise about a rumour <of the betrothal of princes P No journalist of right feeling would think of announcing the rumour of tfie betrothal/of society persons in his town—a v - thing! of far more interest than the betrothal of peasants. He would fie. silent out of reepect for the feelings of' the persona implicated. He would, ignoring tattling busybodies, respect the decencies of life. But the feelings of princes deserve as much respect as the feelings of’private people. .The ethics of-good, journalism are, we therefore "lake it, against the announcement of royal J as well as other, betrothals without . authority.. ‘Now, there is a gang of jffurnalists in London which seems to have been seized Wifh a madness for royal match-making:- The buzzing of this bee in their bonnets drowns - the ethical voice which prescribes waiting for the voice of true authority.