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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 28, No. 10. 1965.

[introduction]

Hon. T. P. Shand, photographed at the "teach-in". Other Government members present included Sir Leslie Munro, Mr. D. S. Thomson and Mr. D. J. Riddiford.—Tony Adams photo.

Hon. T. P. Shand, photographed at the "teach-in". Other Government members present included Sir Leslie Munro, Mr. D. S. Thomson and Mr. D. J. Riddiford.—Tony Adams photo.

Much is said and written about the Daily Press, and the opinions expressed vary greatly. Sir Winston Churchill described the British Press as "faithful and vigilant," whilst Aneurin Bevan described it as the most prostituted in the world.

How is the New Zealand Daily Press to be described? My purpose is to stimulate thought and criticism and to give a few of my own opinions on the role of the Press.

The first concept to be grasped in any discussion on the Press is that newspapers are commercial ventures which may succeed or fail, follow new trends or stagnate, take advantage of or fall prey to the whims of the public. People tend to think of papers as serving the public, as in fact they do to a certain degree, but the first responsibility of managing directors and editors is to their shareholders. It is incidental that the best method of fulfilling this responsibility is to serve the public.

By their very nature as commercial undertakings it is inevitable that if papers fail to show a profit, or at least meet costs, they will have to close down or sell out.

The main sources of income are from advertising and circulation. The former, the more lucrative of the two sources, is dependent on the latter. And circulation is dependant on public support and interest. It is therefore evident that a newspaper must, to a great extent, give its readers what they want so as to maintain its circulation figures. This may lead to unsavoury practices in discovering and presenting stories.