WAR NEWS AND THE PUBLIC

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 195, 14 May 1940, Page 6

WAR NEWS AND THE PUBLIC

Last week’s disclosure of the true course of events in the first phase of the campaign in Norway served to draw attention to the unreliability of war news from neutral sources. From the day of Germany’s invasion of Scandinavia most of the reports received in London emanated from Sweden. Some, though based on what are now known to be facts, were greatly exaggerated; some were completely without foundation. Only a small number were true. There is a strong case to be made for a reorganized handling of war news by the Allied authorities. Public confidence in the general tenor of war news has been shaken, and there is danger that the public may not discriminate in this respect between official communiques and unsubstantiated neutral statements. To restore that confidence a special effort by the Ministry of Information to keep the Empire as fully informed on war events as prudence permits is called for. It cannot reasonably be expected that major troop movements in the Low Countries will be made known until such time as our forces become locked with the enemy at various points. On the other hand, the new theatre of war, being close at hand, provides adequate opportunity for the incoming Minister of Information to make amends for past inadequacies and give the public a reliable guide to the general trend of events as well as prompt detailed reports of incidents which can be related without revealing military secrets. Meanwhile the duty of the people is a clear and simple one. Such statements as may come from obscure sources, without recognized authority, either official or unofficial, should be accepted with reserve, and in every community rumour-mongering should be discouraged. At the same time, the intrinsic strength of our position should be kept in mind. Our publicity service is not yet all it might and can be: nevertheless the democratic peoples today are being given a farwider. more illuminating access to war events than between 1914 and 1918. The people of Germany, on the other hand, are receiving a wholly one-sided account of events. The strength of Allied morale, therefore, is built on an incomparably better base; and undoubtedly this will prove, in the long run, a powerful factor for victory.