A Selected Bibliography from Foreign Journals

Abstract

The first amendments in 64 years in the British law of libel are reported in detail in this quarter's journals. The Conservative government repeated its promise that television development would be opened to private capital and sponsored advertising, though government would continue to operate in that field. Australia's cabinet permitted the sale of stock in a national radio chain to British investors and a government tariff commission heard a plea for rates which would permit the development of Australian publishing as a means to growth of national spirit. The press council suggested by the Royal Commission in Great Britain was finally established, but without lay members and under restrictions which remove most of the objections of British editors and publishers. Economic restlessness continued in Fleet Street, Kemsley sold the Graphic to Rothermere, and many changes in top-lovel personnel took place, evidently in an attempt to get ready for more competitive conditions. Incidents indicating the trend of freedom of the press occurred in the French North African protectorate, Maghreb, in Kenya, Peru, Pakistan, South Africa and Turkey. In the latter country the government firmly protected an independent newspaper which had criticized it. In Germany and Japan, ghosts of the old propaganda machines were apparent in events which tested out the independence of editors and reporters.