THE NEWSPAPERS.

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 483, 24 September 1948, Page 12

THE NEWSPAPERS.

Sir-Second-hand and_ shop-soiled knowledge was aired by Dr. S. Musgrove, Professor of English at Auckland University College, and Mr. J. Laird, lecturer in Philosophy, in 1ZB’s citizens’ forum on the New Zealand Press on Sunday evening, September 5. Throughout the discussion they did not seem to know what is meant by "news value." The fact that a newspaper prospers indicates that it is providing what the public wants. The journalist, through trial and error, is able to select what is news. Professor Musgrove’s first criticism was of "indirect distortion of facts." He based this charge on "filtering of news" and on "plugging certain lines." By filtering he meant the selection by overseas news agencies (some of whose corTespondents have been New Zealand journalists) and/or local sub-editors of what they consider to be the most important news. In this case, the reciPpient newspaper office relies on the judgment of these experienced | journalists; it must also take account of the short time available for getting the news to the people. By plugging he meant selection over a period of one topic or source of news for especial prominence. In supporting this accusation, Mr. Laird

said that in the recent Auckland waterfront dispute "the wharfies got publicity out of all proportion to their importance." The continued prominence given to the dispute was justified by its obvious interest for many of the public. The same holds for most cases of socalled plugging. ; Could Professor Musgrove give concrete examples in support of his next accusation, that news is slanted to lead readers to certain conclusions? In Mr. Laird’s instance of the air crash between a Russian fighter and a British plane over Berlin the essence of the news was that at the outset the British authorities protested to the Russians that the Russian fighter should not have been flying in the area. It was not, as he suggested, played up by the newspapers as a possible cause of war. Could either Professor Musgrove or Mr. Laird explain exactly what they meant when they said that the presentation of news in New Zealand papers was not only sensational but dull? In spite of their insistence on the presence of such a conjunction, the two are absolutely incompatible. "There should be only limited space given to~ advertising," said Mr. Laird. If advertising were limited too drastically the cost of one copy to the reader would be too great a daily expenditure,

and if there were no advertisements the cost of one copy to the reader could be measured in pounds rather than pence. We think it-regrettable that two men so prominent in the University should be so ignorant of the workings of the Press in this country. Mr. A. K. Turner, the third member of the panel, although not a working journalist, is to be congratulated for combating their ill-con-sidered arguments.

S

GAPPER

and

R A.

MELVILLE

(Auckland).