LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. The most suitable length is that of one of our " News of the Week " paragraphs. Signed letters are given a preference over those bearing a pseudonym, and the latter must be accompanied by the name and address of the author, which will be treated as confidential.—Ed. THE SPECTATOR.]
NEWS FROM AMERICA
[To the Editor-of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Those who follow Anglo-American affairs are grateful to you for your article, " News from America " in your issue of March 18th. The complaint " that the British public receives no adequate picture of America in its newspapers " is true, though not so true as it once was. A distinct improve- ment in the news-picture of America in the British Press has taken place in recent times ; and our leading organs, with the British Broadcasting Corporation playing no mean part, give the public a fairly continuous supply of reliable informa- tion. None the less, in spite of this improvement, there is room—and, I believe, an increased public appetite—for a great deal more. So; if it be true that " Fleet Street is no: interested," we may well ask why.
There is, of course, the overwhelming competition for space by the events of Europe which are "news," so hot and urgent that few non-European subjects can rival it. That is Fleet Street's excuse for the comparative neglect of America, and also of the Dominions. But the time is coming when the public will demand more American news, for there is increasing evidence to show that the British newspaper reader is becoming aware of the fact that, to use your own words, "American civilisation . . . is a new force in the world . . . of decisive importance in modern history."
Now it is to foster this growing interest in American affairs and to provide an authentic interpretation of America's new purpose that the English-Speaking Union, in whose name I write, have embarked on a programme of public enlighten- ment. It is our puipose to make Dartmouth House the acknowledged centre of information in the British Isles on Anglo-American and Dominion affairs. And those who wish to know how we mean to do it, have only to write to Dartmouth House itself.—I am, yours, &c., A. F. WHYTE, The English-Speaking Union, Director General.
Dartmouth House, 37 Charles Street, London, W.r.
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