A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK
THERE is room for two views about the propriety of the Govern- men's assisting the Daily Worker by advertising in its columns. Sir Stafford Cripps holds one view and Mr. Churchill the other— even though the Chancellor has been emphatic as anyone in con- demning Communist doctrines and those who spread them. If the Government did decide that, while it saw no ground for restricting the freedom of the Daily Worker, it certainly would not contribute to its advertisement revenue, there would be no great ground for complaint. But there would, I think, be same. One of the charges most assiduously (and on the whole most baselessly) levelled against the so-called Capitalist Press is that it allows itself to be influenced by large advertisers. If the exertion of influence through advertise- ment columns is to be deprecated, as it must be, the Government is no more justified than any other advertiser in extending its favours to certain papers and withholding them from others. What the Daily Worker is worth as a medium for Government advertising I cannot estimate. But, in spite of much that could be said the other way, I think the Government is right in declining to discriminate on account of a paper's opinions.
Previous page
