War Correspondents.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIX, Issue 22, 28 May 1913, Page 9

War Correspondents.

We have left far behind the days when it was possible for Matthew Arnold to write this satire of the father of war correspondents:—“ Dr. Russell, of tho

‘Times,’ was preparing to mount his warhorse. You know the sort of thing. Ho has described it himself over and over again. Bismarck at his horse's head, tho Crown Prince holding his stirrup, and the old King of Prussia hoisting Russell into the saddle.’’ There was a time within the memory of men still young when it was commonly believed that thd war correspondent, even if lie did magnify his office, had special qualifications for the hazardous and delicate mission with which ho was entrusted. We have outgrown that delusion. To win a popular reputation mid to bo overwhelmed with editorial bouquets, it is no longer necessary to slime tlm labours, privations, and dangers of an army In the field. It is. enough if, in some distant and safe retreat, he weaves romances out of official bulletins, amt meets the insistent demand for a daily, “story” by inventing battles at any time and place. Tho British journalist, I hope, is too honest, or lacks the imagination, to attempt these audacities, though there is no saying to what extremities ho may bo driven by this new form of foreign competition, unices th» newspapers that wage perpetual waf again nntaxed foreign, imports haste* to his rescue.—William Maxwell, in tho “Nineteenth Century.”