NEWS CENSORSHIP

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 19, 17 October 1942, Page 8

NEWS CENSORSHIP

Newspaper Proprietors And Director Of Publicity CORRESPONDENCE READ TO HOUSE The question of the censorship again came up in the House of Representatives yesterday when the I’rime Minister. air. Fraser, asked leave to read a letter by the Director of Publicity, Mr. J. T. Paul, to the manager of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association, Mr. L. J. Berry, replying to the public statement on the censorship issued by the association. Mr. Fraser also read to the House a letter by Mr. Berry answering Mr. Paul. Mr. Paul’s letter was as follows:-—

With reference to the statement issued to the Press by the New Zealand Newspaper Proprietors’ Association. 1 have to request that you De good enough to supply me with specific instances of the misuse of war-time censorship. For instance, one paragraph in the statement alleges that "censorship in New Zealand has made a steady accumulation of restrictions on news of matters such as sabotage of production, shortcomings in the control of the necessaries of life, administrative mistakes, extravagances that war cannot condone, and a number of minor but by no means unimportant matters that have their intimate bearing ou the wa r. n Will you, therefore, please'state where any order issued by me has prohibited the publication o£ news relating to: (1) Sabotage of production. (2) Shortcomings in the control of the necessaries of life; (3) Administrative mistakes. (4) Extravagances that even war cannot condone, and (5) Any other of the number of “minor but by no means unimportant matters that have their intimate bearing on the Yours faithfully, J. T. PAUL, Director of Publicity. Mr. Berry replied on behalf of the association as follows: — M’e have your letter of October 7 in which you ask for details of orders issued by you prohibiting the publication of news relating to certain matters referred to in the recent statement issued by this association. There would, of course, be no difficulty in furnishing such details by quotation in fud of official instructions and prohibitions issued by you, but in our opinion no good purpose would be served by doing so. . , The purpose of the association s statement was not to promote a public investiffation. of the administration of the censorsliip regulations, but to direct attention to the need for a clear definition of the limits within which the censorship of news would bo confined. This purpose will not be advanced by discussion of past events; it would be realized by precise definition of the news which in the interests of national security may not be published and an authoritative undertaking that no prohibitions would be imposed on news or comment outside those definitions. Yours faithfully,

THE NEWSPAPER PRO£ R /ETO R S’ ASSOCIATION OFN.Z. (INC.). L. J. BERRY, Manager. Having read the foregoing correspondence, the Prime Minister said, "I propose to make no eomnien't, but to lea'’® the matter to members and the public. There was no discussion.