Towards a Press Council
SIR.-1 am glad to see your decided comment on the newspaper pro- prietors' idea of what would be a representative General Council of the Press. As you say, there can be no doubt at all that half or nearly half of the representatives of the industry should be nominated by the two bodies which speak for working journalists. But where, then, do editors come in 7 I suggest they could be a valuable bridge between the sides. With or without an independent element (personally I support the Royal Commission on this point), let one-third of the members chosen from within the industry be nominees of owners, one-third repre- sentatives of "working journalists," and one-third editors of daily or weekly papers or periodicals. But let half of the editors be chosen by the owners and half by the working journalists' organisations.
This suggestion would have three results. (1) We could be sure that an increased proportion of the owners' nominees would think of journalism as more than a money-making business. (2) A section of the working journalists' nominees would know something at first hand of the owners' standpoints. (3) Editors as such would have recognition which some recent events indicate to be badly needed in our day.—
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