The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-18
ANOTHER BLUNDER BY BRITISH CENSOR
 AFTER LATE RAID
Permitted One Correspond. ent to Slip Over Detailed Account of the Zep-
 pelin Raid

London. October 2-(special. )-Ameri- can newspaper correspondents, and, in. deed, the whole British press, have had their troubles with the British censor ship since the beginning of the war, but there is now raging a tempest between the American correspondents and the of- ricial press bureau which outclasses all the storms that have gone before.
 when, several months ago, the first Zeppelin raid was made on London and when the East End was pretty well bat tered, new rules and regulations were made concerning publication of facts about air-raids. American correspondents were absolutely prohibited from sending anything by cable to the other side ex- cept official announcements They. there- fore, resorted to the mails which be. tween England and America, are not censored. This displeased the authorities. who feared that detailed descriptions of the course followed by Zeppelin visitors would be of value to the enemy. The idea was, and Is, that Zeeppeltn com mander never knows just where he Is, IL may be true. but so far the German aviators have apparently had little diff ficulty in making their way about. La st week they came straight as a hominp pigeon to London, stayed as long as if was safe and departed.
 With the great raid of last week the press bureau sent out a notice to the American correspondents in London call ing attention to the fact that the cen sorship concerning air-raids meant dis patches by mau as well as by cable. The press bureau also stated, in responss ,o inquiries, that not a single word would De permitted to go by cable beyond the bare official announcement. A group or American correspondents visited the foreign office and there after much per- suasion, got a promise that a brief ca ble simply stating that no American had been Killed in the raid would be per- mitted. The rules. however wouId he relaxed no further That, 1t was stated was absolutely final.
 Ihe great raid occurred on Wednes- day. The understanding concerning the censorship against air raid stuff'' was eopie.e. It was a crime. so one cor respondent of New York paner had been Informed by Sir Frank Swetten- nam, brother of the famous governor of Jamaica, under the defence of tbe realm act. for anyone even to submit message regarding an air raid to inc censor, just as 1t is crime for anvone 10 ASK anyone else questions about air
 0''uOi HcWBpaperS Tn these days do not even send out staff of reporters to cover these raids-they know that nothing can be printed, and that their reporters are liable to arrest for gath ering information. The reason riven hv SIT Frank Swettenham for the prohtbi- ton against even submission was al- most unbelievable. He frankly stated that some tired and weary censor might let the dispatch through by accident A more complete confession of the incom- potency of the British censorship could scarcely be imagined.
 With all these special warnings be- fore them American correspondents were being quite circumspect and re- trained from any infrinrement of the rules so strongly laid down. Then came the Saturday following the raid. with few exceptions every American news association and newspaper office in London received vicious messares from their New York offices. One news asao- cietion had managed to ret through q cabled dispatch of the great air raid: one of the greatest stories of the war It doesn't need newspaper training to realize the enormity of the thing to those who were beaten" on the story Protests flew thick and fast. It is stated that one great American news organi- zation served notice on the press bu- reau that henceforth 1t would proceed as If there was no censorship at al1 sending precisely what they pleased to