A HINT TO THE PRESS BUREAU.
[To T/I1 EDITOR 07 THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Now that our genial Solicitor-General and Director of the Press Bureau may be supposed to be convalescent after the shock of the discovery that seditious newspapers are published in Ireland, be might do worse than give his attention to the placard and headline nuisance in London. For the best part of seven hours every day—until the appearance of the official French communique—the evening papers engage in a carnival of exaggeration, in which reports are stated as facts and surmise is elevated to certainty. The remedy is, of course, very simple—never to pay attention to any announcement which is not underlined as "official." But only a limited number of people are capable of such discrimination. The great majority buy what appeals to their wishes, and so the ignoble game goes on, to the destruction of a true perspective in war news and to the great detriment of recruiting. If the Press Bureau would give a quarter of the time they spend on vexatious excisions and deletions to grappling with the scandal of misleading placards, they would regain that confidence in their sagacity which has been sadly shaken of late by Sir Stanley Buckmaster's forcible-feeble utterances in the House.—I am, Sir, &v., A JOURNALIST OF THIRTY YEARS' STANDING.
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