SPREADING FALSE REPORTS

Wellington Independent, Volume XX, Issue 2227, 4 July 1865, Page 3

SPREADING FALSE REPORTS

We are very glad to find that the Wangamd Chronicle strongly condemns the practice of circulating false reports, either on the part of persons or in newspapers. In an article devoted to this subject, it explains that to such an extent had the practice gone in Wanganui, that the Kesident Magistrate was compelled to issue an advertisement, warning all persons, if they were found out in doing so, they would be punished. It is satisfactory to have the assurance of the Chronicle that this step put a stop to the evil, and "the. pcaco of tho lieges was no longer destroyed by these wicked inventions." The evil from which the Chronicle is now purged, has, however, broken out in a different form, as will be seen by the following quotation from that journal of Wednesday last : —

•' We read the other day in tho Nelson Colonist that twelve of tho Military Train had been surrounded near Kai Iwi, by the Maoris and cut off to a man, this information having reached Nelson by a private letter, the contents of which were communicated to the journal. We need not say that there was no foundation whatever for the statemont. The New Zealand Advertiser oi 20th inst. learns from " a private source" and tlie intelligence is " corroborated through another medium," " that 4CD Wanganui natives had proceeded to tho Waitotara for the express purpose of attacking the Wereroa pa. Mete Kingi is the prime mover in this matter, and tho attacking party under him will comprise 2®o of the enrolled Maori Militia and an equal number of men who have hitherto been considered neutral. This force will be taken from Pipiriki," where, however, there will still "remain some 200 Maoris, besides military settlers. Yesterday was the day named for the attack." Wo have no doubt tho Adrertiser had full confidence* in tho good faith and correct information of those who gave it this long tissue of nonsense ; and we give these extracts; not for the pnrpose of reflecting on that journal, but to show how difficult it is for public prints to avoid falling into gross mistakes occasionally. The native contingent contains 100 men ; 25 of them have been left in Pipiriki, and 75 came down here and went out on Wednesday last, accompanied by about 40 friendly natives to Nukumaru. They woro instructed to proceed only to Kai Iwi, but neither Major Rookes nor Captain McDonald could restrain them from going on to Nukumaru, where, on Saturday, they showed great eagerness to attack the pa, but were restrained by Col. Logan, much no doubt to their dissatisfaction. These ai*o the actual facts, and it will be seen how distorted and magnified they have been by our contemporary's informants, whose object seoms to have been to mnltiply tho numbers and glorify the prowess of the friendly Maories.

Nothing could be more complete than this expose of the Advertisers canard, while the quiet way in which it is let down gently, will no doubt be fully appreciated. The Chronicle is indeed brimful of charity. "It has no doubt the Advertiser had full confidence in the good faith and correct information of those who gave it this long tissue of nonsense," to which it has only alluded " tor the purpose of showing how difficult it is for public prints to avoid occasionally falling into gross mistakes." We feel obliged to take a somewhat different view of the matter, because we think it very doubtful that the Advertiser is imposed upon at all, in nino cases out of ten. Its numerous canards, published one day to be contradicted the next, are probably got up chiefly in the office of the paper. A steamer, for instance, comes in from Wanganui or Auckland, and tho reporter who boards it picks up some floating gossip. Brown has heard from Eobinsou, who was himself informed by the relative of a gentleman high in authority athead-quarters, that the Native Contingent was about to attack a pah ; while Jones again was told by somebody, who learned the fact from somebody else, that the force, to the number of 500 strong, had already started, and a slight preliminary skirmish had taken place. A conscientious and careful journalist sifts such rumors to the best of his ability, and either rejects them altogether or publishes them a.? , rumors, guarding his readers against accept I-

to work in quite another way. Taking the rumors as raw material, he amplifies and exaggerates, till the result, if a skilful hand has been employed, is a sensational article, circumstantially written, and bearing all the appearance of truth. This is, of course, destructive of all reliability in journalism, but the plan nevertheless appears to answer. Some newspaper readers have a craving after the sensational, and buy the journal which panders to it. It does not matter to such people whether what they read be true or false, becauso if. they are deceived one day, they can be set right the next, and then they have an agreeable excitement besides. French journalists carry this system to perfection, becauso as political questions can only be discussed in the most guarded manner, their invention is stretched to make the most of local incidents. Whatever material exists is , dressed up in the manner we have described, j but when that falls short, then the amusing scribe, who narrates the gossip of the day, draws on his imagination for those wonderful stories of murders, suicides, duels, and elopements, which, with the names of places and actors described by initials, so often appear in the sheets of our lively Ff'oneh contemporaries. American paporsdo the same thing in a clumsier way, as any one who has ever been in that countiy, or who has read the narrative of the war as furnished Ly its press, will at once admit. The history of that war will be a task of the greatest difficulty to write, simply because the American press is almost utterly unreliable. Fortunately, colonial journals are in general free from this fault ; indeed in New Zealand, with a few exceptions, tho narrative of current events is given honestly and fairly. Of these exceptions, the Advertiser is one and the Chronicle another. Any person who has read the former for the last year or two, will easily call to mind the host of statements, either partially or wholly false, which have appeared in its columns, while all are aware of the notoriety that the Chronicle has acquired by its native canards. Curiously enough, the advertisement of the Eeaident Magistrate, warning people against spreading false reports, was rendered necessary by " the wicked inventions " of the Chronicle itself, of which officialjnotice was taken at the time. This warning has certainly done good, because the Chronicle of late has been much more cautious, but it will of course take some time before a bad habit can be completely broken off. Till the process of reformation is complete, it would perhaps have been as well for the Chronicle to refrain from condemning a sin, of which it has been the chief practises Still the Chronicle's remarks are valuable. The reformed toper is perhaps best fitted to describe the evils of drunkenness, and expatiate on the manifold blessings of temperance : so the reformed canard-wongev may be the most suitable advocate of honest and truthful journalism.