The Newspapers

Words—Words—Words

Throughout our waking lives we are unceasingly bombarded with words. One of the deadliest sources of this bombardment is—the Press. Nowadays, true enough, a half-formed distrust of the press is widespread—"if you see it in the newspapers it can't be true." Yet few people realize the force of the indictment to be made against the "newspaper traffic."

The "great mouth-pieces of Democracy" are of course privately owned. The newspaper proprietor sells us words, in the same way as the butcher sells us sausages. It need not be considered wholly an accident if some of these words are true.

But not only are the newspapers owned and controlled by people with large property interests at stake, but the bulk of their income from advertising comes from powerful trusts and industrial and commercial concerns. And one never offends a friend. Does one?

There are one or two things worth remembering next time you pick up a daily paper.

"Advertising," as a copy writer might say, "is a newspaper's life-blood." It is from "advertising income" that the share-holder's lot is lightened.

The news, the articles which find their way into a metropolitan paper, are not there primarily by their own right. They are there to curry the advertisements. For without these every daily newspaper would be bankrupt before election day.

The people who spend large sums of hard-earned money on advertisements although they are pure-at-heart, not unnaturally often influence a paper's contents.

Most of you when you intend to spend an evening at the cinema, look up the newspaper reviews. Have you ever realised that all you read is a reprint of the blurb sent on by the makers of the picture? And the length of the notice depends not on the worth of the film, but on the amount of advertising space that has been paid for.

Truth, when money is involved, is forgotten. If any newspaper dared to oppose the interest of its advertisers (Big Business) it would be starved out of existence.

Literary work of any kind is not the concern of modern newspapers. Sex, scandal and crime sell so much better than good writing. And they cost much less.

Here is an extract from the New Zealand News, London, July 5th, which should bear this out.

"The dangers arising from newspaper monopoly in New Zealand are worthy of serious attention.

"We are able to give details of what the 'New Zealand Herald (with a circulation of 70,000 two-penny copies daily) considers a reasonable rate to offer for serial matter. For the rights of printing 80,000 words of "England and the Maori Wars" this newspaper offered the princely sum of ??15, or approximately four shillings a column."

Editorials.—People buy the daily newspaper because after all, it is the only available source of information. No doubt anyone has the theoretical right to set up a daily paper of his own—If he has £500,000 to spare.

Actually, the newspaper owners have [unclear: complete] and effective monopoly of [unclear: both] opinion and news. This means that [unclear: a] limited class of property owners can foist their opinions on the whole population—merely because they have enough money. In short, they have a pecuniary interest in truth.

Naturally enough they are prepared to support their privileged position irrespective of its Justice.

This is why the newspapers are so antagonistic to the Labour Government.

And in their struggle for the retention of their privilege, any falsehood, any deception, any distortion, will do. (See article in this issue—Swinging the Vote.)—a.

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