LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
From : Peter PatersOn, Martin Seymour-Smith, D. H. W hitinf.!, R. M. Robbins, L. I. Clarke, David Astor, lint Clark, W. Diment.
Devlin-Worship
slit,- In the course of his attack on Lord Devlin, Alan Watkins cited my appearance before the Press Council last year arising from shop stewards' objec- tions to allegations 1 had made (and still stand by) of extensive 'do-it-yourself' activity in the firm's time at the Woolwich Arsenal. I am grateful to him for raising the subject, for the Council's decision in this case was a very odd one indeed, but I must in fairness correct him on one point.
I was not 'called before the Council.' My editor requested. and was granted, permission for me to appear in person before the Council's complaints committee (although there was no opportunity for me to confront my 'accusers'). It is quite true, how- ever, that the emphasis in the Council's verdict was not whether my allegations were true or false, but on the quantity of evidence available to me.
The statement issued by the Council (nearly a Year after the article appeared) said: While the Press Council does not doubt that the Sunday Telegraph article was written in good faith and has a basis of information given to Mr. Paterson by workers interviewed by him, the Council considers that the basis was too slight to justify the impression given of wide- spread malpractice.
The question surely is how the Press Council is qualified to decide that the information available to a journalist is 'too slight' to justify his writing an article. Should I have interviewed one person, or two, or three, or a hundred, or a thousand? Who, other thtin the journalist himself, is to judge such lthPonderables?
Perhaps the Press Council, which did not visit the factory or interview any of its employees other than the complaining shop stewards, thought it was Producing a judgment of Solomon. I can assure them that they left the shop stewards with the warm feeling that they had been vindicated. As for me, I look forward to the Council's instruction manual laying down the minimum number of interviews re-• quired before a reporter puts pen to paper. Heaven help those who rely on 'Whitehall sources.' I found a dozen real people was considered to be 'too slight'!
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