It ever there were a splendid example of the British genius for muddling through it is to be found in the hurried construction of the Ministry of Information at the commencement of the war. It had- been established in skeleton form some short while before, but the advent of hostilities necessitated the full staffing of the Ministry with the concomitant confusion which inevitably ensued. It is not the intention, however, to discuss the early history of the Ministry but rather to refer to the very much improved handling of news by it as displayed during the last few weeks. At the commencement, while the Ministry was shaking itself into some sort of shape, the news handed out for dissemination by the Press was of the scantiest, colourless and completely uninteresting. It was imperative that considerable reticence should be observed, even if only for military and naval reasons, but the failure to give the public of the world adequate information of what was going on, and which could properly be divulged, created very great unrest and aroused "considerable criticism. That was probably" best expressed in a skit on the B.B.C. news broadcasts which appeared in a recent edition of "The New Statesman and Nation" i 6 pin.
"In the communique we repeat Official reserve is complete.
According to Reuter, the Fleet Has captured (I'm sorry) some crews.
Reconnaissance flights have been flown, Important results have been shown.
The Market closed firmer in tone, And that's the end of the news.
It was just that sort of thing, into which the reading and listening public could not get its teeth, which created exasperation. The war correspondents of the world Press had not been permitted to go to the front with the British forces, and all the news which was available was framed in arid official phraseology as though there were an attempt to hide something. The despatch of Press representatives to France led to the first signs of improvement, and from that moment onwards the war began to be interpreter to the ordinary man in the street in terms which could be better understood, and in volume which was altogether more gratifying.
The improvement has been steady ever since, and the past few days have clearly demonstrated that at last the British Government is commencing to realize that the full mobilization of the news arm is in its way every bit as important as the organization of those other and more material forms of defence and offence. The promptitude with which the British Admiralty announced the sinking of the Rawalpindi and the descriptive manner in which it was reported was cne of the early instances where the dry bones of mere information received the flesh of detail, which provided a full, and con-vineing picture of what happened. The manner in which the engagement óf the Admiral Graf Spee, its flight into Montevideo, and the subsequent scuttling of the ship was also admirably, and fully covered, though tha fact that the censors could not exercise their influence over neutral news agencies is something which cannot be disregarded. Nevertheless the despatches of the news agencies of the Allies gave good graphic accounts of what had happened, and, it may be, encouraged the British Admiralty t come forward with better accounts of tac exploits of the submarines Ursula and Salmon. The promptness with which the latest air action over the North Sca was reported, and the manner of its description >gain showed the same evidence of considerable improvement of official realization of the type of news and its presentation which is likely to prove more effective, and while it is realized that official communiques must betray a very considerable degree of reserve, it appears also to be recognized that too complete a reticence may be just as harmful on the home front as.overmuch loquacity may be in those areas where battle is joined. Indeed it was remarked only the other day that the news now provided did really convince readers that there was a war en after all. This is all to the good. Had there been a fuller supply of news in the early days of hostilities, there would never have been heard that allegation by an American politician that the Allies were pulling their punches, and the first effect of the improvement in the quality of news liberated is that the peoples of the world are able to take a closer interest in what is happening, and are afforded a better opportunity of founding their sympathy with the Allied cause on something more solid than was hitherto presented.
There is every reason to expect that this improvement will be maintained. It is realized that there are occasions when for purely physical reasons, such as those of distance, and the inadvisability of using wireless, as in the case of submarines whose position might thereby be revealed, there must be some delay in the publication of the ful! description of a particular event. But the general rule still holds good that the quicker the authorities are to publish information, whether it is good news er bad, the better it will be for the continued prosecu-tien of the war. It is part of the genius of both the British and the French that they can take a defeat, and admit it. There was in the last war very little attempt to gloze over the bad times through which the Allies at times had to pass. Where it was attempted it did nothing but create irritation. Where people can accept reverses without flinching, where such news only serves to strengthen the determination to fight on to the bitter end, to strive until temporary defeat is transformed into permanent victory, it would be the height of folly to seek to withhold information, which, when it eventually does come to light, can only serve to shake the confidence of the masses in the Government set over them. It is for thai reason that the expressed determination ct the Allied Governments to tell the truth was welcomed in the first. case; the telling of the truth with the greatest possible detail is but an improvement of the generally expressed policy, and the more intimate the interest which the Allied peoples are allowed to take in the progress of hostilities, the more the facts of the fighting are brought home to them, the greater the sympathy and support which will be forthcoming for the respective governments. Recent improvements are consequently most heartily to be welcomed, and it is hoped that the Allied Governments will persevere-in their policy, which, in view of all the circumstances, is the only sound one possible, and the one which is best calculated to acquaint the people with the magnitude of the task which is still ahead.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.