UNGRATEFUL READERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 978, 22 May 1930, Page 20

UNGRATEFUL READERS

LORD HEWART ON THE PRESS — Lord Hewart, Lord Chief Justice ; of England, who was the guest of the 1 journalists’ board of the Lyceum Club, j London, recently, said that as the j power of Parliament declined and the i electorate gre"’ the responsibility of the Press became a very serious matter, not merely for the good government of the country, but for the good of the citizens. The criticisms were heard about the Press were very much the same as they used to hear 40 or 50 years ago. "As I grow older I am bound to say that what strikes me more and more about readers is their ingratitude. A great deal of nonsense was talked about the so-called faults and defects of the Press. I prefer to think of its wonderful achievements and the immense wealth of ability it bestows on us daily. Compared with the Press of today, the Press 40 or 50 years ago exhibited a certain pomposity. / “It might be, on the other hand, that today, in the opinion of serious persons, newspapers tend to devote too little space to serious things. However, subject to one exception, namely, the inclusion of those personal paragraphs, I doubt very much whether the best journalism of 40 years ago was one whit better than the journalism of today.”