Mr. David Ockham in Stentor, or the Press of To-day
and To-morrow (Kegan Paul. 2s. 641.), has said just what one expects any sensible person to say about the " trustificatwa " of the Press. And we are glad to note that he pays a well- deserved tribute to the genius of Lord Northcliffe, who has been so often and so unintelligently maligned. If an indepen- dent Press, says Mr. Ockham, does not emerge " from behind the smoke screen and the poison gas " ejected by the organs controlled by our newspaper magnates, then democracy will have the newspapers it deserves. We generally do get what we deserve in this world, although many of us do not think so at the time. And if we compare the Press of England with that of other countries, we shall find that there is not much cause for complaint. Our Press may be vulgar, but it is not venal. Much of what the author says is true, but he is unduly pessimistic and (like most pessimists) he is a rather trying companion (in these pages) for more than a quarter of an hour
at a time. * *
Previous page
