The Press as Watchdog
The important report of Mr. Justice Cohen's committee on the amendment of Company Law is dealt with in our Finance column on a later page more fully than is possible here, but there is one passage, raising larger questions than those under immediate con- sideration, which particularly invites comment. Stress is laid in the report on the value of Press criticism of inadequate or mis- leading prospectuses, and it is added very pertinently that "in- formed Press comment is, or should be, a deterrent to misleading prospectuses, but comment tends to be stifled by fear of pro- ceedings for libel." Any reform, the committee concludes, which increases freedom of comment without opening the way to un- justified defamation, would be of unquestioned value. This judge- ment is of wide application. The Press may reasonably ask whether there is sufficient appreciation of the services it renders to the public at some risk to itself (for the caprice of juries in libel actions is notorious) in training its searchlight on questionable trans- actions and practices in many fields. The Royal Commission on the Law of Libel appointed before the war has now resumed its sittings. It may be hoped that it will succeed in drawing a better distinction than the existing law draws between legitimate and wholesome comment and indefensible defamation ; but the task is by no means easy.
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