A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK T HE appointment of Prof. Coatman to be
News Editor of the B.B.C. is interesting. Sir John Reith and his colleagues are not satisfied with the way their news is being presented night by night, and Prof. Coatman's advent certainly means new departures. Personally I hope there will not be too many of them. The proper function of the news-bulletins is to convey news— soberly, straightforwardly and objectively. That par- ticular item is, or should be, pure information, not entertainment, and all the public asks of the News Director is that he shall show a proper sense of values in selecting his pieces of news and present the essence of each item succinctly and clearly. An experienced jour- nalist is the right man for that, and I should have thought plenty of capable journalists were available. Prof. Coatman was Director of Public Information in India, but that involved totally different work from this. Personally he has many qualities to fit him for the post. He is keen, alert and full of ideas, and having learned life at Manchester Grammar School under Paton he will not be likely to go highbrow. I offer him as a motto, The news, the whole news (within reason), and nothing but the news— no frills, no dramatization, and I hope no little five- minute speeches spatcheocked into the middle of the bulletin. The right place for them is at the end, when those who want to listen to them can, and others not.
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