NEWS AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 42, 14 November 1918, Page 4

NEWS AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST

Some facts relating to the transmission of the news that an armistice had been signed call for a full and okai , explanation by the authorities concerned. We are in a position to state that had a Press message on the subject been allowed to travel unimpeded through the ordinary channels it would ( havc reached Wellington well before midnight on Monday last, and could •have been published throughout the Dominion in the morning papers of Tuesday. Actually, the news was held back, on what ground and by whom we should like the Government to state, and the general public received its first intimation that an armistice had been signed at nine o'clock on Tuesday morning. . Since in ordinary course a Press message that an armistice had been signed would have reached Wellington before midnight on Monday, it, is reasonable to assume that the Government received the news ■earlier. This being so, it must be asked why the news was held back, and whether the course taken 'by the Government in the matter van bo held to square with tho Prime Minister's statement in the House of Representatives on Friday last that when an armistice was signed the public would be informed. On Friday,. Mr. Massey '■'regretted exceedingly . the inconvenience and loss that had been occasioned to many people throughout New Zealand, and certainly to the people of Wellington," by the publication of an erroneous report that an armistice had been signed. The facts which have been touched upon indicate, however, that when Hie authentic news came to hand j the public interest was ignored. Business and industrial establishments in Wellington, and presumably elsewhere throughout the Dominion, opened on Tuesday morn- | ing for what was assumed to bo an ordinary working day. . There was a general cessation of work when the guns sounded here and as tho news penetrated in other parts of the. Dominion. A great deal of needless inconvenience and loss was thus occasioned which would have been averted had the news been allowed to reach the public without delay. It would then have, been published in tho morning papers in all parts of New Zealand, and factory-owners and business people could have taken their measures accordingly. It is clear that if the news was delayed in order that it might be first given out in a formalofficial announcement, the delay was not justified. In this connection it is significant that certain persons arc said to have passed round. the information regardins tho armistice by telephone and otherwise hours before the official disclosure was made. A specific inttance may be mentioned. Mn. J. 0. Shoiiland, who presided over' a patriotic gathering at I*land Bay on Tuesday, stated that ho received a telephone message at -1.25 that morning, "and ■was told to sit tight on it." The facts as a whole call for explanation. Any interference with Uio prompt transmission of news, except for imperative reasons which did not exist in this caw, is •a very serious matter, particularly whr.'ii it directly subjects the public lo loss ancl inconvenience.