THE PRESS IN GERMANY
SIR,—General Clay, in his recently published Decision in Germany, referring to the newspapers licensed by the Americans in their zone in Germany, states : " Only in Bremen and Wuerttemberg-Baden have we succeeded in obtaining laws which provide even an approximature of the freedom of the Press as it is understood in America, and neither of them is entirely satisfactory." This statement raises a very interesting point with regard to the Press in the British zone. What measure of freedom (ies it enjoy ? It is essential to ask this question for the following reasons : r. The importance of a free Press in any democracy, and particu- larly in the new Western Germany, where democracy in difficult soil is struggling to grow.
2. The fundamental mistake of the British Foreign Office (German Section) in granting licences for newspapers to political groups and the closing down too soon of the British-sponsored newspapers run by experienced journalists trained in the democratic tradition. (General Clay refused to grant licences to political groups in his zone, because, as he points out, in his book, a " political party Press would have had to support the narrow attitude of party leaders. However we were prepared to stop licensing by Military Government if adequate Press laWs were enacted and then the responsibility for a party Press would be in German hands. When I left there were neither adequate laws nor party papers in our zone.")
3. The complete failure of the Foreign Office (German Section) to realise the value of a free Press in a democracy. I can bear witness to this, as I have edited two of their publications in Germany.
4. The proposal to dispose of the only British-sponsored news- paper in Germany, Die Welt of Hamburg—a paper which has been edited, despite officialdom, in the true democratic tradition.—Yours
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