Privacy and the Press
sift,—It is good of Mr. C. J. Slade to explain that in his article on Privacy and the Press he did not intend to attack journalists at large. But he still hits out too wildly in saying that newspapers are "free in so many cases to publish statements in the full knowledge that they are untrue and with complete immunity." Newspapers may be legally free to do this; but in fifty years of journalism, more than thirty of them as editor, I have never known any offence of the monstrous kind alleged—that is, the deliberate printing of lies known by the editor to be lies to deceive the reader.
Newspapers are sometimes betrayed by sources they trust, as The Times was in the Parnell case. They sometimes make mistakes through pure ignorance or other imperfections of human intelligence, especi- ally under the pressure of time. But the idea that British newspaper- editors spend their days concocting lies belongs to the realm of political fantasy. In every newspaper-office in the Country the editorial effort for accuracy is unceasing. For the honour of journalism I object to – Mr. Slade's plan to punish lies because no need for it exists, and his contentions merely mislead.
Mr. Slade complains that to the outward observer little progress appears to have been made in the negotiations for the establishment of a Press Council. The observer he means must be a little unobserv- ant, for though the meetings have been confidential it has been stated with authority in The Times and other leading papers that the progress made has been great and promises early success.
With seven different organisations negotiating on complex and important issues, some of them possibly rousing questions of com- petitive prestige, it was not to be expected that agreement on every point would be arrived at quickly. One of the tasks proposed by the Royal Commission for a voluntary Press Council—the training of journalists—has already been taken in hand by the profession with the result that a comprehensive and widespread training scheme began last October.—Yours faithfully, W. L. ANDREWS. (President, Guild of British Newspaper Editors.) Yorkshire Post office, Leeds I.
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