“LITERALLY TRUE”

Opotiki News, Volume III, Issue 323, 18 October 1940, Page 1

“LITERALLY TRUE”

8.8.0. NEWS ' CLERGYMAN’S TRIBUTE Praise for the accuracy and truthfulness of the BBC news broadcasts was given in an interview in W ellington by the Rev. Lionel B. Fletcher, formerly of Auckland who has returned from London. “In the day I have been in New Zealand,” he said, “I have been amazed to discover how many people think that the broadcasts from Britain are really mainly propaganda. The fact is that the people of Britain themselves are irritated by what they consider the ultra-conservative way in which the news is given. It is literally true and it shows our weaknesses as well as our strength. That makes a lot of people in England very angry, and New Zealand people need not for a moment believe it is padded propaganda, because it is not. “In the eyes of the Continental nations,” said Mr. Fletcher, “we are fools to tell them so much, and many Americans have said the same thing.”

Mr. Fletcher said that some people in Wellington had already expressed doubts to him about the p'roportion of aircraft losses given in British communiques. He had many friends and • some relatives connected with the Air l 1 dree and he knew that great care was taken to ensure the accuracy of sudh claims.