Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-05-01
AVOID EuROPES CENSORSHIP FLAWS
and MISTAKES SAYS F. R. MARTIN
Noted Newspaperman Says u. S. May Avert Disastrous
Bunders BY Placing Trained Journalist at Head OF Bureau
With Full Cooperation of Army and Navy Officers


would be practically impossible. While
! geogra. hical circumstances. AeTe are
compensating advantages 4Paper n
| Maine or California may publish a
| most n discreet or ever dangerous ar
ticle. but 1t is a long way from Port
! land or San Francisco to Berlin
whereas the Germans are almost with.
in gunshOt OF Paris, and English pa
pers reach German agents in Holland
on the day Of publication. English
censors have said. speaking carelessly
! Of course, bnt with considerable
truth, In war Information a week old
as rhle Is not information OF value
to the enemy"
News regarding shipping will Lrob
! ably be 1.-The first kind of information
to be suppressed In passing. it may
be OF interest TO note that the Asso
ciated Press disc ontinned publishin,.
the ports Of arrival and departure be
fore he government got around to
emitting such data from it's published
post office circulars and even before
the government discontinued Publish
ing the sailing dates OF its own shirs
CAS- late as April the war denart
ment orders published in New York
newspapers gave ~ name eight places
where submarine mine material Is be
ing made.) An experienced newspaper
man at the head Of the voluntary cen
sorship could have issued effective or
aers to discontinue the dissemination
OF all such information throughout the
United States within "a hours. News
paper men cannot command battle
ships, and military staff officers can
not conduct newspapers. -
Efficient Officers, But Poor censors
Reverting to the horrible. exam
pie" of the British censorship, one in
cident may be illuminating. When the
war started Sir Reginald Brade of the
war office and Col Churchill, an able
British officer, were struggling with
the censorship. Both were capable
gentlemen in their own lines or eff
fort, but they were BIS helpless as
Lord Northcltffe or Lord lawson
would have been, in command Of the
Iron Duke or the 7Arethusa. Their
! censors, mostly sape: ANIMATED off
GERS. followed instructions seaimpll
citfy that '@fie.S fhe. 4ssoeiatcd Pres
4 official report Of the HeiiEoland fight
= which the government might appro
priately have spent much smeney to
circulate throughout the world-they
threw it into the wastebasSet The
explanation of this tr agic achievement
given to me by Sir illiam Tyrrell OF
the foreign office Was that the cen
4 sorship rules prescribed that the
names of individual ships should not
l~be mentioned and the admiralty re
Port had mentioned Individual ships.
Before committing suicide, which
seemed more natural explanation to
= render to my supeFiors in New YORK
IT told Sir Reginald and Col Churchill
that could not credit the explana
ttion. You credit it or you reflect on
the honesty of my associates" said
I Col. Churchill. / Withdrew with assur
ances that credited the honesty u
his associates but found 1t impossible
to comment on their intelligence. Gt
is only fair to say that both these gen
tlemen were but victims of unpre
paredness and both contributed matt
rally to the later improvement Of the
! press bureau.)
The Advent Of Common Sense
| When it became apparent that the
head censor must be in touch with al
military and cabinet secrets and must
possess tho confidence Of the govern
fnent, the task was given to Sir Stan
ley Buckmaster, now Lord Bnckmast
er. He did not understand the news
Taper business but devoted himsel
assiduously to learning 1t, and is one
of the most patient men who ever held
a public office. Scores of US battle6
with him by written and spoken word
by day and night. He built up the
present system with the assistance o.
Sir Edward T. Cook, who had beer
editor of the Pail Mall Gazette, the
| Westminster Gazette, and the Dali.
News, but is best known here as thc
biographer Of Ruskin and of Delant
of the Times. Sir Frank A. Swetten
ham also assisted.
4 On the day when Ii I'd Buckmastel
became lord 1ign chancellor | me-
him at the hospitable home of ST
|
best friend American newspaper mel
4 have had during this war in EOndoa
and told him that newspat er n!en haG
; probably been a more constant nuts
ance to him than to any man in Grea
4 Britain With characteristic suayity
he assured me that he had only the
heasantest recollection of all his rela
tons with the press. An American
/ probably would have admitted a par
of the indictment. We do not produce
that type Of urbanity in this country
like the color on the walls Of st
PauTs and the Abbey. it comes only
with the centuries.
J But all the dreadful lapses OF the
British censorship and all its inequali
ties can be avoided by the unitet
States. The mistakes which requiret
} months 20 correct are sign~posts fol
!, uE. It's printed rules reveal its SLOW
growth. Our. censorship can deVeloi
equal efficiency in a month II it nott
;, the charted pitfalls in Whitehall.
= less Zeal for Suppression Of News
y i ~ 10