NOT PROPAGANDA FACTORY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 29 June 1939, Page 3

NOT PROPAGANDA FACTORY

| NEW BRITISH PUBLICITY OFFICE j -U PA -by Electric Telegraph -Copyright 1 LONDON. 28th June. The Foreign Under-Secretary, Mr R. A. Butler, addressing the Empire Press Union, said that the new foreign l publicity department of the Foreign Oii flee would aim at improving and co-or- | dinating the supply from Government sources of information about Britain which would be of interest to foreigners. and at assisting its flow through ordinary non-official channels.

! Its success would, therefore, depend j upon the voluntary co-operation of official and unofficial organisations, and it. would accordingly clearly be seen that they could not. even if they wished, disseminate highly-coloured, blatant propaganda, which would be alien .to the counutry’s traditions. "We aim noi at establishing a factory of propaganda, for the word fae--1 lory implies that something is made j up.” he said. "We aim rather at hav-| ing a studio at which pictures of ourselves may be taken. We do not seek for highly-coloured artists’ portraits which a. discriminating foreigner might think owed more to art than to nas ture, but for well-taken photographs of ourselves as we are.” 2 All’ they proposed doing as a result 1 of setting up the department was to have more of such photographs taken r and pay more attention to their di36 tribution, he added.