CENSORSHIP

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 302, 22 December 1945, Page 4

CENSORSHIP

ANY country which subscribes to the Four Freedoms must be chary of censorship, and there is a good deal to commend the statement of the former Censorship Director of the United States (Mr. Byron Price) that censorship should be used only as an instrument of war. Roosevelt’s Freedom 1o Publish conflicts rather definitely with conceptions of some people as to what “Freedom of the Press” means. Freedom to publish means just what it says—freedom to publish that which the publisher wishes published. Obviously such a freedom would be dangerous in war time, and censorship should apply; but it is very questionable whether there should be any censorship in peace time. Once a censor applies the blue pencil the obvious thought is there is something to hide, and if there is something to hide people become suspicious. Hiding something from an enemy is reasonable enough, but it is not always reasonable when dealing with people, or nations, regarded as friendly. Russia, apparently, has a fear of freedom to publish. I niled States, on the other hand, believes in almost outright freedom, freedom which goes to the lengths of interviewing accused persons and publishing statements from them prior to trial, a practice which has been rebuked and forbidden by the War Crimes Court now sifting in Nuremberg. Britain steers a middle course. She exercises freedom, but. blends with it a, wise restraint. There are certain things which should not be published, and in the hands of the British Press, speaking generally, there is a common-sense judgment applied which emphasises that the Press executives are, alive, to their responsibilities.