NAUSEATING PIFFLE.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 157, 6 July 1916, Page 4

NAUSEATING PIFFLE.

None too soon a voice has been raised. in Parliament against the quality and character of the war news ibeing supplied to the New Zealand public through the agency of the Press Association. When Mr Wilford asked the Prime Minister “to convey to those responsible for the nauseating piffle: cub led out to New Zealand about the Anzacs an intimation that this is not the sort of news we want in this country, several members Jumped to the conclusion that the official correspondent ought to be blamed for what was occurring. But neither the official correspondent nor the Press Association, as both Mr Wilford and Mr Massey made plain, is responsible for the rubbishy news with which the newspapers are deluged. It is the news agencies in London, trading in trivialities and sensations largely for political purposes, that provide the New Zealand Press with the sort of stuff Mr Wilford described as “nauseating piffle.” These agencies are controlled by great news-mongering magnates who have as little acquaintance with the requirements of the people of this country as they have respect for the best traditions of journalism. But their financial position is so strong, and their influence is so wide-spread, that no organisation like the Press Association could free itself from the taint of their methods. No doubt the Association docs its best, but through no fault of its own its best, as in the case mentioned by the member for Hutt, is very bad indeed.