Atatürk, Kemal, 1881-1938; Turkey -- Description and travel; Turkey -- Politics and government -- 1918-1960
The Press is luxuriously installed in a miniature palace of its own, at
the Palace Hotel; a bar, of course, a gramophone, a perfect
dancing-floor, roulette, and, incidentally, “plenty of room to write.”
Mr. Ward Price politely regrets that “etiquette” will not permit him to
ask me for an interview. Why should newspaper etiquette be allowed to
hamper his “duty” as a good sportsman?
To the one journalist who really counts at Lausanne (though his articles
were not always printed), I ventured to bring grave charges against the
Press. “How is it men of talent and education have allowed themselves to
sink to the level of mere machines, that any ‘big’ proprietor can use to
manipulate public opinion? The ‘Power of the Press’ is a fraud. You
never give us the benefit of your knowledge and judgment; whether we
take a ‘pennyworth of news,’ or let ‘bang go saxpence.’ ‘Alas,’ said
Shakespeare, ‘to choose love by another’s eyes!’ Is it not a hundred
times worse ‘to write by another’s ears?’”
You write only what Mr. MacClure deigns to approve; and, though
doubtless honest and unbiassed, he is not himself really “free.” He
feeds you daily, like the animals in Regent’s Park, and, after a good
night, you may digest the food. It would be far more honest to issue an
“official” Report, without the “false” impression of personal judgments
formed on the spot, which a “special correspondent” is meant to produce.
The public is taught to laugh at Ismet’s pleasantries, via Mr. MacClure!
Now I have heard the Pasha rehearsing, and Lord Curzon preparing his
“part”; but I still want to witness the duel upon the public platform,
_for myself_.
Could one ever forget the most dramatic moments of the Second Conference
at the Hague! Can such incidents be reported unless one has actually
seen them! I remember Mr. Choate was down one afternoon to speak on
Disarmament. As he rose, Baron Marshall von Bieberstein deliberately
closed his ears, and opened a sheet of paper and began to write. Drawing
himself up to his commanding height, with a stern air of dignity, Mr.
Joseph Choate began—“I have prepared my speech with great care for the
express benefit of Baron Marshall. If the _noble_ gentleman is too busy
to “listen” this afternoon, he would, perhaps, be good enough to make
another appointment!” Surely the fine picture of this grand American
calling the “noble” Baron to order upon a question of good breeding is
one which each correspondent must see, hear, and describe for himself.
It is, no doubt, largely due to the great difficulty of obtaining first
hand news, that most people are anti-Turk. We were told, for example,
that Riza Nour was “insolent”; whereas he had patiently listened for
hours to nonsense about the “National Armenian Home,” _before_ he left
the Conference room in despair of being permitted to tell the truth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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