MENACE TO BRITAIN

Kaikoura Star, Volume LVII, Issue 47, 14 June 1937, Page 3

MENACE TO BRITAIN

FOREIGN NEWS SERVICE. ASSIDUOUS PROPAGANDA. LONDON, June 9. Subsidised foreign news services, aiming directly and indirectly at injuring British interests, have become a serious menace, declares the quarterly publication, Round Table. The paper adds that impartial news has almost disappeared from the Far East. News agencies supported by the Governments of Italy, Germany, and even France supply Chinese and Japanese Press services at a fraction of the cost of the British services.

The Round Table quotes many items published in newspapers in the Far East, emanating from the Continent, which emphasise British timidity and weakness with the object of showing that Britain is becoming a second-rate Power.

The Round Table also draws attention to the work of Italian propagandists in the Levant, who are “ assiduously spreading the doctrine that Britain everywhere is on the run and that the Empire shortly will break up. ’ ’ It mentions the Italian, German, French, and Russian wireless services in Egypt, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, which are all working to Britain’s disadvantage and seeking to undermine her influence.

“These services also supply tendentious news to the Press of all Europe at nominal rartes, thanks to Government übsidies,” the paper alleges. “As a result, everywhere Britain is being

discredited. Interested Powers arc winning greater victories through the dissemination of falsehood than would be possible by force of arms.”