But there is one even more important question regarding a
Press Council. That is what precisely the scope of its activities is to be. It is all very well to say that it will consider only complaints from the persons affected. Is it to make com- plaints, and initiate action, itself ? Consider, for example, this case. OnMonday Miles qiffard was to be hanged, and was in fact hanged, for the murder of his father. His attachment to a girl called Gabriel Valiance was a feature in the tragedy. On the previous day the Sunday Express splashed across four columns these headings: The Letters of Miles Giffard—Exclusive A' Girl' in Love Talks of What It Means to Get a Telegram Like This- " Miss Valiance, 40 Tite Street, Chelsea, London, S.W.3. No Reprieve. Love—Miles." There follows an article by Miss Valiance about her emotions, with ample quotations from the letters written to her by Giffard from prison. Would a Press Council created " to maintain the character of the British Press according to the highest professional and commercial standards " have anything to say on this ? Or, with the Maclean affair in mind, would it feel that the paper concerned was fully maintaining its character ?
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