PRESS LORDS IN INDIA
Stat,—" Janus " should be congratulated by all lovers of freedom of the Press for his timely, though polite, warning against what is sometimes called " Trustification of the Press." It may be usefully added here that it is not only in the provinces of this country that the sad process has been going on ; it threatens to have an international link-up, if my infor- mation from India is correct. I have been informed that Lord Kemsley has been persuaded to open talks with the Indian Marwari firm of Birlas for bringing into existence an institution for " checking irresponsible international news reporting." My informant is not yet very precise whether the talks if successful will lead to joint proprietorship of news- papers here and in India. I hope not. The Birlas already own in India the following English and Vernacular dailies and weeklies, in addition to having "invisible" control over many others : The Hindustan Times (New Delhi), The Hindustan (New Delhi), The Eastern Economist (New Delhi), The Nagpur Daily News (Nagpur), The Leader (Allahabad) and The Searchlight (Patna). This list is not as formidable as " Janus " has compiled in respect of Lord Kemsley's ventures, but then India, in spite of her physical largeness, does not have as many readers as this country.—
Yours, &c., • RAM SINGH. 18o Fleet Street, London, E.G. 4.
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