LETTERS
From P. W. Harland, Paul Mangan, Pro, fessor Earl Miner, Robert McKinnon, James Brock, Kenneth H. Ross, William F. Pickard, D. J. McCarthy. Margaret H. Brown, David Russell, the Rev Richard Jeans, Tibor Szamuely, G. H. R. Jenkins, Harold Mc- Crone.
Fit to print?
Sir: Mr R. A. Cline's article (10 January) on the law and the press horrifies me. Would he really legislate against all newspapers because some exceed the bounds of his good taste?
In any case he is wrong when he says that a newspaper's right to report court cases is trammelled only in divorce and official secrets cases. What about juveniles, and per- mission to marry cases? What about the pernicious Criminal Justice Act, still un- amended, which allows a man to be sen- tenced to life imprisonment for murder with- out a jot of reportable evidence? To say nothing of all the Act's other restrictions on the reporting of lower courts. And he ignores the very restriction which still pre- vents the majority of newspapers in this country from reporting the most sordid court details—obscene libel.
He surely discounts, also, the relevance of the defendant in the rape case he quoted being a parliamentary candidate. There are cases of rape more sordid than this one appearing in the courts week by week, but they never receive such national attention.
The really frightening thing about Mr Cline is that he threatens to legislate against bad taste in a privacy Bill. How would he distinguish between good and bad taste? Who would draw the dividing line? Mr Cline? At a time when censorship in other fields is fast disappearing it is noticeable that there is a growing tendency to favour press censorship. The price of press freedom is the vulgarity of a few. It is surely not too high a price to pay. The alternative is the more frightening to contemplate.
P. W. Harland
Editor, Telegraph and Argus, Bradford
Sir: I found myself very much in agreement with the views expressed by R. A. Cline in his article. Clearly, by promoting such sensationalism to front-page prominence the editor is invading the privacy of those per- sons concerned but he is also, I believe, evading his responsibility to his readers.
If the editors of these papers used them more to discuss seriously, but in fundamental terms, the pressing issues of today and less to titivate 'our insatiable curiosity' about such banal events, then the British public might well become more enlightened on, for example, the Common Market question. The cry of 'in the public interest' was once a crusading one as editors fought to expose treachery or events to which there was bound to be a public reaction. Alas no longer; it is now used as an excuse to publish anything which is sensational enough to increase circulation.
It is not legislation which is necessary but more outspoken journalists like R. A. Cline, who are prepared to criticise their colleagues and so shame them into improving the repu- tation of the press which they are evermore debasing.
Paul Mangan
St. Cuthberts Society, 12 South Bailey, Durham
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