PRESS CENSORSHIP

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21364, 7 March 1941, Page 8

PRESS CENSORSHIP

CONDITIONS IN EIRE COLOUR** IN NEWS “ Eire has one of the closest press censorships in Europe,” says the Manchester Guardian. “ That accounts for the extraordinary remoteness of its newspapers. Often to read them one would imagine that the war was being fought somewhere in the South Seas rather than round Ireland’s coasts. It is fair to say that in pursuit of his policy of neutrality Mr De Valera has made sure that the press shall be as colourless in its news and comment as possible. This means also that the free ventilation of many domestic issues is prevented. “ An interesting debate on the censorship took place in the Senate last week which revealed a good deal of disquiet about iis methods. Two dozen fish were poisoned in the Mallow River by effluent from a factory; the censorship stopped the story because it might affect the livelihood of the people who live by fishing in that river. A paper submitted a picture of a great volunteer rally on College Green addressed by a Minister'. The censor insisted that the royal arms on the pediment of the Bank of Ireland (the old Parliament House) must be cut out. Reference to a body called the Kimmage and Crumlin Tenants’ Association was prohibited. Alleged Muzzling of Press “ Newspaper reports of Parliamenttary debates are censored, although the official report has not so far been tampered with. It was alleged by Senator Sir John Keane that the censor even dictates and regulates the ; position in which matter is to api pear and the prominence of the headI ings. ‘ Muzzling of responsible newsj papers,’ courageously observes the j Irish Times, ‘is one of the first and ! most dangerous symptoms of dictatori ship.’ “ It is not for us in this country ito express an opinion on such a purely | domestic Irish affair, but it is obvious ' that the existence of this close Irish | censorship is not without its bearing on the state of Irish opinion.