The German Press.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13462, 7 December 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

The German Press.

TREATMENT OF FOREIGN TOPICS. Tlie secret of understanding the German | press is (his (writers Mr Austin Hai-q.yiii in the "North American Review"), .that, on questions of foreign policy it is lievci independent, though frequently euur-dy .divorced' from the public, ppinion.; and, secondly, that whatever it " does -»ay, • it says with some object, either tentative, advisory, minatory, or otherwise ,and that it relay faithfully be regarded as the ■ mouthpiece of a semi-official .opinion. I It is important to appreciate this fact. Practically entire German press de. pends for its foreign'intelligence upon the very economical service' of the semi-official Telegraph Agency,' which supplies only the barest facts, and; being' itself under official tutelage, exercis-es a semi-official influence over the entire German press. Were it not for the foreign correspondence of the " Lokal 1 Anzeiger" of Berlin and the letters in tlie " Ivoelnische Zeitung," the Garman public would know practically nothing of what goes on in other countries except; occasional facts of what Germans would, stylo of world-political importance. ; The German public is kept isystemati-' cally in profound ignorance of events in other . countries-; and. as there are no rival agencies, and no; likehliood of any rival' agency appearing, this state of things will probably continue for a very long time. The alienee of press iniative- renders it an easy matter for the Government .to. keep the prices "in older," the public in ignorance, and to stiir up artificial waves of emotion and indignation whenever the "authorities" judge it provident to do so. Thus, during the Boer war, the~ public was completely hoaxed by the.' pro-s.' And thus, too, in all questions regarding Bus-, sia, everything is done to tipare Russian susceptibilities, and nothing is permitted to be said that may give' offence to the Government'' of the " Little Father." As, moreover,' the German, newspapers are 1 widely.- read in Russia,, and arrive there before the. English mails' the German' press o invarialby : itself to its audience across the eastern fnmtier, and writes on all international affairs'< for Russian consumption. During the RussoJapanese war,- though German sympathy was markedly anti-Russian, ■ tho German press:/ on -every possible; occasion " wrote up" Russian -victories' and Japanese defeat,, and; adopted' an/attitude of sympathy with the. Czar's legions utterly at variance with the feelings of the nation, which "felt as bitterly towards-Rus-sia as it did- towards Englaiid—only iiiat, in the case .of Russia, the pi ess refused to give it expreosion, while in tho -case of England the press encouraged it!