NO EVIDENCE OF DELAY OR OBSTRUCTION

Chronicle (Levin), 3 February 1949, Page 5

NO EVIDENCE OF DELAY OR OBSTRUCTION

Air Crash Inquiry's Findiiig ALLEGATIONS BY PRESS (Per -Press Association) WELLINGTON, Feb. 3. "I fiiid that there was no undue delay or obstruction in the circumstances." This is the findihg of Sir Harold Johnston,^ K.C., who was appointed Commission of liiqiiiry to determine whether, folloWihg the crash of the aircraft Kaka on Monnt Ruapehu ldst October, there was undue delay in the release to the newspapers of information on the finding of the wreekage. The principal question in Sir Harold's order of reference was "whether, having regard to all cbhditions aiid circumstances surroundiiig the finding of the Electra ail'craft, Kaka, on 'Mount Ruapehu, and the recovery of the bodies therefrom, there was any undue Or improper withholding of information from, oi' imposition of any undue or improper restrictions Upon, Press reporters in obtaining information and phdtogfaphs for the purposes of publication." In view of his negative answer to this question, Sir Harold found that no answer was necessary to' tne second one in the terms of referbnce,- "if there was obstruction, by whose^orders or directions was the information withheld or the restrictions imposed." On, the third question, "whether arisihg out of the inquiry it was expedient or prkcticable to lay dowh any general principles as to the privileges or freedom or obligatiOhs Of the Pi'ess in similar circumstances." Sir Harold, in answer, said that the circumstances of the inquiry and the evidence taken at it had not^ raised any matter that rendered it expedient or practicable to lay 'down any general principles as to the privileges or freedom or obligations of the Press in any circumstances. The inquiry was instituted by the then Acting Prime Minister, 'Mr. Nash, following rephesentations by the N.Z. Newspaper Proprietors' Association and' the N.Z. Journalists' Association. Many witnesses from. Government Departments were cafied for the Crown and a number of journalists gave evidence of their experiences during the recovery opei'ations on Mount Ruapehu. Press Had No Rights Sir1 Harold Johnston, in his report, says: "Counsel for the Journalists' Association, Mr. W. E. Leice§ter, opened his case as if reporters Were champiohing the cause of freedom of the Press and freedom of the individual. If that was their h'elief; they chos'e a series of incidents to support their cause much too insignificant, in my opinion, to sustaih the burden. In their evidence some of them at least spoke of their rights never having been questioned. The Press can publish any news they obtain, but they have no ffiore right to defiiand that news be made available to them than any other .member of the public. "Mr. J. R. Smith, editor of the Evening Post, whose opinion I naturally respect, said that the right to obtain news was a necessary cbrollary to the right to pub^ lish news, otherwise the freedom of the Press was iilusdry. That, I think, is not correct and at any rate the Press have never attempted to establish as an unquestionable right the right to a handout of news in possession of any person or body, public or private. That public bodies will be forced by public opinion to allow the Press access to information on matters of public interest I can well believe, but even that is subject to the qualification that if decency or public interest requires the postponement of the publication of news, public opinion will insist that publication is postponed till these requirements are satisfied. I venture to doubt that public opinion will agree that this discretion should be delegated to the Press, which, after all. is primarily interested in publication. Incidents Trivial "Regkrding the incidents of delay and1 obstruction, they appear to me somewhat trivial aird I think that altogether too much has been made of them by reporters, who, accustomed' to the vantage points. proyided for them and news handed to them in Well-furnished locations, were somewhat disgruntled when. they had1 to face a complete lack of arrangements for Press reportmg in the Ruapehu area." ■ RevieWihg the evidehce concernihg the release of information from the Search and rescue organisations of the Air Department in Wellington, Sir Harold said that the only possible ihference to be drawn from the visit to the control room of the Acting Prime Minister, Mr. NaSh, and the Minister of Defenee, Mr, Jones, was that they were as ahxious as the general public that information should be given. Thefe ffiight have been soffie slight delay' in answering telephone inquiries from pressmen 'during the change of control rooms and while furtherc space was being arranged, and some' pressmen might have been put to some slight personal inconvenience, but beyond that he was satisfied that all information relative to. the search was, when checked, handed to the Press when asked for without delay, said Sir Harold in his jufigment. Air Controls had to be free in the circumstances of a search to (Continued on Page 6) \

(Continued from Page 5) . exercise. , its discretibn as to whether, when messages from searching planes obvious:y needed. investigation and confirmaticn, they shouid be passed on to the Press. The feelings of next-of-kin might be harried unnecessarily^by the publication of messages „ indicating the possible location, followed by reports that the hope's raised were unfortunately not realised. Liberal Treatment "Th'e ciaim that tradition entitles reporters to* have retailed to ohem a.ji messages, irrespective of their ultimate vaiue a£ clues to the location of a missing plane, can- ! not be seriously entertained," said Sir Harold. "The newspapers published dur-j ing the days of the' seareh showed that liberal information was given them. No evidence was given of j any general public complaint that' insufficient information was forth- ' coming. In my opinion all relevant information about the search was given to the Press, vo-untarily and without un'due delay, and it seems that the "facilities given to the. Press by the Air Department enabled tne Press, without any great a'ouble or expense, to report sufficien'tly the progress of the search to the public." , "Eveii if the Press was disappointed that tney did not receive •information of the fmding of the wreckage as soon as the Acting Prime Minister, it was surely no cause for serious resentment," said Sir Harold.

Misleading Allegations "The allegations in the Press Association report from Ohakune. that there was a system of 'almost wartime sscrecy' was misieading. Had the Press Association correspondent's telegrarn been checked,» and his authority for 1ns statement that Wellington was responsible, it wouid have been found on investigation to have been based on his interpretation of a teiephone conversation with Flight-Lieutenant Jacobsen, officer-in-charge of the Karioi airfield, and I think it ufi-i likeiy that the subsequent Press comments about secrecy and misleading information would have been indulged iii, and adverse comment, if any, would have been more restrained and temperate," said Sir Harold. The incidentswhich occurred might easily, but not justifiably, be.magninod to an extent that would jusiify the statement tliat the autliorities had thrown a bianket over all information from the scene of the disaster. "Only one log entry indicated that instructions from Wellington could have been the cause cf the restrictions reporters claimed to have encountered. That was the entry at 2.56 p.m. on October 29 to the police at Ohakune 011 the authority of ' the Prime Minister's Department, which said that beiore any information was given out regarding the results oi the ground party operations details were to be given to National Airways Corporation and Mr. Nash personally. Denial Must Be AcceptedS "Without for a moment questioning the propriety of tiiis instruction, or the interpretation to be olaced on it, I cannot help regretting that the source from wiiich it came could not be ascertained," said' Sir Harold. "The ofiicial in charge of the Prime Minister's Department denies any such instruction from that department.'' While the Prime Minister's Department , was collecting news of the search I to cable to the Prime Minister in I London, that did not involve and

could not authonse the Pimlicity Department issu.ing an instruction that the release of the news reeeiv-' ed by the Air Department should in any way be controlled or deLayed. The official in charge of the Fublicity Department, Mr. C. H. Williams, denied that any instructions Df that nature went from his department, and it must be accepted that no such instruction was sent. Sir Harold, after a lengthy examination of the charges made by Mr. 3. V. Wall, Press Association cor;espondent, in messages from Ohakune, concluded that they were reckless, grave and, 011 the evilence, entirely unwarranted.