ATTITUDE OF PRESS TO GOVERNMENT

Southland Times, Issue 23307, 17 September 1937, Page 8

ATTITUDE OF PRESS TO GOVERNMENT

GOOD TREATMENT CLAIMED BY MR HAMILTON

(From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, September 16. “If any Government has ever had a good spin from the Press this Government has,” said the Leader of the Opposition (the Hon. Adam Hamilton) during his speech in the Address-in-Reply debate in the House of Representatives tonight. “The Press helped the Government greatly to get into power,” Mr Hamilton said, “because it was certainly pretty hard on the last Government. Yet the Prime Minister still complains about the Press. In fact he talked in Auckland about punching the newspapers if they did not do what he wanted.”

The Minister of Lands (the Hon. F. Langstone): Do you think he might have jammed them? All members of Parliament liked to get a good run from the Press, Mr Hamilton continued, and although they did not like criticism they had to stand up to it at times. The Press of New Zealand was quite fair and played the game in a wonderful way. Mr Hamilton also criticized the Government’s use of the National Broadcasting Service. In the guise of broadcasting facts, he said, it had put over a lot of propaganda. The Prime Minister was inclined to be a sinner in that direction. Sometimes the presentation of facts was all right, but the facts were nearly always interpreted through the outlook of the person giving them. The Minister of Finance (the Hon. W. Nash) was also inclined at times to overstep the mark when talking about the guaranteed price. The Minister of Finance recently broadcast an address about the guaranteed price. That was all right, but why was the Farmers’ Union not permitted to broadcast its case in reply?