Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1909. NEWSPAPER ETHICS.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4490, 18 November 1909, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1909. NEWSPAPER ETHICS.

I his above all—to thine own self be true , ind %t must follow as the night the day thou canal not then be false to any man Shakespeare.

i It appears that the New Zealand institute of Journalists is exercised over what is regarded as a breach of newspaper ethics by the New Zealand Herald. That journal has always been considered to take a very high moral standpoint, and it has come as a surprise to find that it has placed itself in a questionable position. It is a pity when a newspaper like tfie Herald does that, because it mars its influence and power for good, and makes one question the bona fides of all Journals. Men naturally ask ; What can you expect from newspapers less favourably circumstanced than the Herald when you find it playing a low down game. It appears that not long ago a section of the Auckland Trade Unionists held a meeting which they did not want reported in the newspapers, but the Herald allowed one of its reporters to disgqlsp himself like a working man and gain access to the meeting by false pretences. In the nejft day’s issue the Herald not only reported the piivate meeting, but chuckled over its imagined cleverness in evading the doorkeeper and in outwittiug the meeting. That attitude very much surprised lovers of fair play and those wtyo hold journalism in high esteem, The Trade Unionists were justly incensed and they exposed the Herald's deceit. The trick wag brought under the notice of the Institute of Journalists at Wellington which felt compelled to disapprove of what the Herald did. It was deemed to be beneath the dignity pf the Press to stoop to false pretences to spy out a private meeting and publicly report it. We mu«t say that w.e uudprse the disapproval oPthe Institute of Journalists. It would have belied one of its fundamental functions if it had not disapproved. Subsequent action has led to the surmise that the Herald expected that its method of newsmongermg ought not to be questioned, but it would never do to call a lass pretentious journal to book and let an importart one like the Herald escape scot free. The Institute of Journalists could not make fish of one an t fowl of another without belying its principles and abdicating its honourable position. Tbe Institute practically requires tbe Herald to play the game fairly according to the rules, The public and the moral law also require it. Journalism would stink in men’s nostrils if for mere £ s. d. and to be first to sell news a paper could be allowed to practice deceit and publish a meeting intended t u be private. Except with the yellow press of certain place, such a method of getting news has never been justified, and the people of New Zealand will be amongst the last to approve the violating the sanctity of legal and moral private meetings.

In twines pf war the military and nayal

authorities resort to spies and to all sorts of questionable methods of getting infor- ! mation, and although they do it solely in the public interest and for National ! protection, some doubt the morality of it; 1 but the New Zealand Herald could make no such plea, because it did so merely to sell its news and out-distance a rival journal in the unfair race for it. The whole thing was wrong, and we venture to say that the Herald will deplore it as much as anyone when the truth of the matter is realised. To try to justify it would bring down upon the Herald the condemnation of the whole New Zealand Press. No community would submit to be spied upon by private journalists, merely for private gain. Suppose for instance a reporter disguised himself as a Freemason and gained admission to a Masonic Lodge and then published its proceedings in the paper ; what would be thought of such misconduct ? Every honourable man would express bis disapproval, and very justly so. The honourable traditions of the newspaper press must be maintained and the rights and privileges of a community be protected. A Trade Unionist meeting is entitled to the same respect as a Masonic Lodge, and we hope that the Institute of Journalists will always protest against practices calculated to lower the standard of the Press, mars its influence for good and possibly provoke a breach of the peace. The public press of New Zealand is very j ustly held in high esteem, and it wields great powers but it must never be allowed to violate the sanctity of legitimate privacy, nor stoop to disguise and pretence to secure private news for questionable public sale,