NEWSMEN AT THE FRONT.

Kaikoura Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 60, 3 August 1944, Page 4

NEWSMEN AT THE FRONT.

PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE AT WORK. (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service). The present war has seen a wide development of the new gathering sources accompanying the various forces in the field. These to-day are almost invariably assembled under the title Public Relations, the description adopted by the Armed Forces to cover publicity services. In the British Forces there is a central Public Relations organisation in Britain itself with a General as director, and with all British forces in overseas theatres of operations there are Public Relations units forming part of the general military establishment. The functions of these units are several, but in general they encompass the conducting, control, and assistance of accredited war correspondents, war photographers, and broadcasting commentators, the production of Army newspapers and periodicals in the field, the arrangement of communications and other facilities necessary for the publicity coverage of operations, and liaison with the Public Relations organisations of other armies and commands.

The Americans have a Public Relations organisation, the scope and purpose of which is similar to that of the British. Various Air Forces and Navies have also their separate P.R. establishments meshing with those serving their land forces. The whole provides a framework within which war correspondents, photographers, and commentators may move in any theatre of operations. To-day, in keeping with the general amalgamation of the Allied Forces, British and American P.R.

work almost as one organisation. Communications are the chief problems of P.R. services. When a war correspondent has written a story, the major part of his task is accomplished. It is the task of his P.R. service, first to take him into the sector or area in which he wishes to go; to arrange his military or other official contacts for him; thirdly, to attend to his transport and quartering while he is in the area; fourthly, to provide him, with facilities for writing or recording his story when he has got his material; fifthly, to see that his copy is carried out by Pon R., by jeep, by air, by ship, or by any other means to the point at which censorship is established; sixthly, when a despatch has passed through censorship, to see that it is cabled, wirelessed, posted, or carried as directed to the destination for which it is intended.

Communications are the first things disrupted by any sudden movement of a force, whether in advance or retreat, or in normal transit. The armed forces, of course, carry their own communications with them and erect or dismantle as they go. Publicity communications, however, must in general, be kept separate from those used for operational purposes. Moreover, they must connect with and function as part of the great commercial cable and wireless networks stretching to all parts of the world. A despatch thumped out on a sand-clogged typewriter in the back of a truck “somewhere in the blue,” may be carried hundreds of miles by despatch riders, jeep drivers, and transport, pilots, before it reaches comparative civilisation and a ticker tape. It is the job of the P.R. unit to provide these despatch riders and to sec that they connect with the transport planes ami other links back to censorship and the cabling point. Second N.-Z.E.F. in the Middle East, and now in Italy, has a P.R. unit which within 2/N.Z.E.F. and inside the larger ramework of the P.R. organisation for the whole of the Allied Forces, fulfils these various functions.

N.Z. Public Relations Service 2/N.Z. E.F. comprises three war correspondents, the N.Z.E.F. Times, weekly newspaper of the 2/N.Z.E.F., two still photographers, two cinema cameramen, a broadcasting section of two commentators, and two engineers, official war artist, and transport and administrative sections to deal with the organisation as a whole.

The correspondents—cinenyi men, photographers and broadcasting men all wear “war correspondent” shoulder titles have their own transport. In genera], this consists of a light truck which the correspondent uses as sleeping quarters for himself and his driver, and as a workroom. These are attached as a separate section, to divisional headquarters from which the correspondent operates. To reach the forward areas and provide the necessary despatch services to the rear, the section has four jeeps. The correspondents have their own mess and cookhouse and the necessary drivers, mechanics, cook and orderly under the charge of a. P.R.S. of ficer and a neo. Under this arrangement a correspondent, photographer, or commentator, can detach himself with his driver and go off on an assignment with another formation or unit, living in his truck and moving completely self contained. Ihe war correspondents, cinema mon, ‘

broadcasting men, and photographers comprise the Field Section of N.Z. P.R.S. In addition to its ordinary functions, the section provides P.R. liaison with any visiting correspondents or photographers. These are frequently accommodated by the Field Section, members of which arrange the necessary contacts with N.Z. intelligence officers and other sources of information. British and American war correspondents, 'usually move with the P.R. conducting officers, but N.Z. war correspondents, camera men and broadcasting men do not require these within 2/N.Z.E.F. Subject to very reasonable restrictions the New’ Zealanders have complete liberty of movement. In various parts of Italy, at the present time, are established the other sec tions of N.Z. P.R.S. One small section, working with the Americans, deals with the processing, recording and despatch of still photographs. When a photoghaph is taken by any of the N.Z. official photographers, the negative and contact prints go to New Zealand, other prints and enlargements go to the High Commissioner’s Office, London, and the N.Z. Legation, W ashing ton, for distribution in Britain and U.S.A., others go back to the N.Z.E.F. Times and others to British and American army newspapers, to American Office of War Information and British Ministry of Information (Photographic Section) in Cairo. Through these various channels photographs showing the activities of the New Zealand troops find their way into newspapers of all languages and nationalities. Many of them have been used by the Arabic and French newspapers of the Middle East, others have gone to Russia and to the Greeks. This photographic section also attends to the captioning and censoring of all photographs.

In another part of Italy is the N.Z. E.F. Times section. The Times is now set up by New Zealand Army oeprators and compositors, and is printed under arrangements with the British Militaiy authorities in a requisitioned Italian printing house. Copies of all N.Z. War Correspondents’ despatches and prints of all official photographs go ba<*k to the Times after censorship. P.R.S. provides the transport to carry the papers a considerable distance to the Division; others are flown back to Egypt to N.Z. troops in M.E., others are sent out through Armjy, Navy, Air Force, and civil post offices to New Zealanders all over the world. The Times literary staff also provides its own coverage of many N.Z.E.F. activities. Centralised with the Times is the general administration of N.Z. P.R.S. and transit accommodation for correspondents and personal moving between the various sections. The Official War Artist who spends part of his time with the Division, also has his studio where he does his painting after bringing back his sketches from the field. Another section of N.Z. P.R.S. is in yet another Italian city. This section deals with the censoring and despatch of broadcasting discs, and the despatch of press copy, photographs and discs to various parts of Italy and overseas. N.Z. P.R.S. has, for some time, been handling the whole official courier service for all the P.R. organisations on one coast of Italy where it acts as a receiving, collecting and despatching agent for America, British and other Allied Forces material. Yet another small N.Z. P.R.S. section still remains in Egypt to maintain liaison with the New Zealanders there and to superintend the processing and despatch of cinema There are no facilities for processing cine film in Italy, and, as a result, the negative must go back to Cairo for processing, cutting and censorship before it is sent to N.Z. Copies of N.Z. cine film have, for some time past, been also sent to London and Washington for inclusion in news reels prepared there. This section of N.Z. P.R.S. also deals with the processing and despatch of all film taken by official unit photoghaphers—members of units authorised to take official photographs for record purposes. For some time past the Archives and War History Section of 2/N.Z.E.F. has been included within the organisation of the N.Z. P.R.S., but owing to changed conditions in Italy, it has now been found more satisfactory to establish Archives as a separate unit.

The three New Zealand War Correspondents, the staff of N.Z.E.F. Times, the Official War Artist and the Official Photographers, have all been recruited from qualified members of various units of N.Z.E.F. The two cine cameramen, one of the broadcasting commentators and both broadcasting engineers, were appointed by their respective Governii|ent services in N.Z. and sent overseas. One of the broadcasting commentators was already serving in a unit when appointed.

N.Z. P.R.S. works in close co-opera-tion with the P.R. organisations serving the other Allied Forces. A N.Z. Military Press Censor is now attached to Allied Force Censorship H.Q. in Italy, and Allied Force P.R. communication services are extensively used maintaining links with London, Wa< ington, Cairo, and New Zealand. Visit iug war correspondents, photographers,

etc., are always sent by Allied Force P.R. to N.Z. P.R. and N.Z. correspondents desiring to visit outside formations are given the facilities of the general P.R. organisation.

The links between N.Z. P.R. and New Zealand are provided by the Director of Publicity, the Director of the National Broadcasting Service and Army Headquarters, Wellington. The Director of Publicity provides N.Z.E.F. Times with its news service and New Zealand photographs and distributes despatches from the N.Z. war corre-

spondents and cine and still film' taken by the camernien in the field. The Director of Broadcasting receives all personal messages and other discs sent by his section with P.R.S. in Italy and arranges N.Z. distribution. In addition to the activities already mentioned, N.Z. P.R.S. distributes photographs received from N.Z. to American Office of War Information, British Ministry of Information, and the various Army newspapers and periodicals in the Mediterranean area. It also receives completed news reels sent from N.Z. and arranges for their distribution to N.Z. Y.M.C.A. Mobile Cinemas for exhibition to the troops. Articles prepared from the N.Z. far correspondents’ despatches and N.Z.E.F. Times arc also distributed by N.Z. P.R.S. to the outside press. This, as briefly as it can be described, is an outline of the general functions and organisation of New Zealand Public Relations Service, C.M.F. and M.E.F. Tn its operation it not only maintains close contact with Allied Force P.R., but also with the Public Relations Services of the other Dominion Forces of the Indian Army, Canadian, South African and Indian Army war correspondents, as well as British, and Americans, have frequently used the facilities of New Zealand P.R. both to obtain material and to get it out fromj forward areas. 'inese contacts provide valuable opportunities for the exchange of views and impressions between the newsmen of the various Allied Nations.