The Duty of the Press In an important and valuable
leading article in last Tuesday's Yorkshire Post, based in part on the article on " The Government and the Press " in last week's Spectator, the general question of the duty of the Press is handled with the firmness and clarity that might be looked for 'in a journal which has contributed its full share to the high repute in which the half-dozen principal provincial papers in England and Scotland are rightly held. The essence of the relationship between Ministers and the Press, so far as " the Press " means editors, is contained in the question " What shall we say of proprietors and editors who tamely print just what they are asked to print ? " and by intro- ducing the word " proprietor " the writer raises (as Mr. Geoffrey Mander does in our correspondence columns today) an important issue too often overlooked. Only at one point is a principle in any degree disputable laid down ; that is where it is stated uncompromisingly that " nothing should restrain a newspaper from telling the public the full truth about current events to the best of its power." Even in peace time there may be events regarding which a certain reticence is proper in the national interest—which must be sharply distinguished from party interest. King Edward VIII's proposed marriage may or may not be a case in point, but it at least suggests that cases in point may—at rare intervals—occur.
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