NEWS IS ESSENTIAL IN WAR TIME

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 49, 27 February 1941, Page 6

NEWS IS ESSENTIAL IN WAR TIME

THE PUBLIC INTEREST FULL SERVICES NEEDED FURTHER CUTS IN PAPERS NOT DESIRABLE l Per Press Association. J WELLINGTON, Feb. 26. ‘The maintenance of adequate and reliable news services, so that the people o£ the Dominion can be kept fully informed of the course of events in the perilous period we are passing through, is one of the most pressing necessities of the times,” said Mr. C. W. Earle, president of the New Zealand Newspaper Proprietors’ Association, in reviewing the work of the recent conference of newspaper proprietors at Rotorua. “The newspaper reading habit,” Mr. Earle added, “has been developed in the Dominion to a degree probably unequalled by any other country in the world, and the high standard of the service rendered by the Press here, in the dissemination of news and opinions, undoubtedly has exercised an important influence on the progress and advancement of our country and the general welfare of its people. In all our community efforts our newspapers have been a recognised medium through which the public have been kept informed of the trend of events, and. through their columns, leaders of thought and opinion have been able to contact the mass of the population in furtherance of policies and measures for the common weal. Service Should Be Carried On. ‘To-day, to a greater extent than ever before, it is essential, in the public interest, that the Press of the Dominion should be in a position to carry on the service it renders without curtailment of its news organisation. or undue restriction of supplies of newsprint and other materials necessary for the production of our newspapers.

"Furtherance of the national war effort, which should be a vital consideration governing the actions of all sections of our people, can only be adequately exploited and developed if the public generally is kept fully aware of the realities of the situation—the pressing nature of the dangers which confront us, the urgency and necessity of demands for service and sacrifice from all sections and interests, tile dependence of our whole future as a free people on a supreme and united determination to allow nothing to stand in the way of ultimate victory.

“It is to their newspapers that the public, day by day, turn for their news of the course of events, for advice and guidance of those in authority, and for detailed knowledge, and instructions as to the part each is expected to play. Already, the newspapers have had to limit their sizes owing to import restrictions. This was to be expected, and, in the circumstances which prvail to-day. must be regarded as unavoidable. The possibility, however, of further restrictions must necessarily occasion grave concern, not merely as a matter affecting the newspaper proprietors, but because of its inevitable effects in limiting the supply of news and information to the public at a time when the fullest possible publicity on all questions of moment is essential, if the whole-hearted co-operation of the people is to be maintained and strengthened. Every cut in the size of our newspapers must tend to curtail. in some measure, a news service to which the public have been accustomed, and to reduce also, in some degree, the space available for that free expression of opinion which nas come to be regarded, and properly so, as one of the inalienable rights of our democratic citizenship, and a valued influence in assisting to shape sound and balanced views on issues of public policy. Full Volume of News Essential. “It is difficult to conceive anything likely to prove of greater hindrance or be more prejudicial to our national war effort than any suggestion or appearance of withholding from the public that full volume of news and information on vital issues of the times to which they have been accustomed. In these circumstances, it is most necessary that any step involving further retrictions on the size ai.d content of the newspapers of the Dominion, should, as a matter of publit policy, be approached with the utmost caution. More especially is it evident that this is the case when it is tune in mind that the sterling funds effected by any saving that could be made, involve a comparatively small sum.”