Evening star., 1941-02-16
Britain's Information Ministry
Has Vital War Assignment
Storm of Criticism of Propaganda Agency's Work
Has Subsided Since Duff Cooper Was
Named as Minister
Bv Cedric Larson.

While the Luftwaffe and the Royal Air
Force are fighting it out for supremacy
of the skies in Europe, another battle is
raging just as fiercely-a struggle OF
morale between two titanic forces.
Pitted against each other in this psyche
logic contest is the British Ministry OF
Information, centered in London, and
the Reich Ministry for Propaganda and
Enlightenment, with headquarters In
Berlin.
The objective of this war of words If it
may be so called, is for the minds of
mankind, and especially neutral opinion.
The missions of these propaganda min
istries are to bolster up domestic morale,
gain the good will of neutral countries
wherever possible, and as far as can be
done. to depress morale in enemy coun-
tries
The current Ministry of Information
was activated with the outbreak OF
war on September A. 1889, and Lord
Macmillan was named minister, with
Lord Perth as director general. Sep
tember and October were destined to be
tempestuous weeks for the new ministry
as the British press went under more
or less managed-from- operation.
The period of orientation to war condl-
tions and censorship proved irksome to
the fourth estate in Britain, and they
took it OUT on the minister.
Four Broad Groups.
The ministry grew to substantial pro-
portions within few days after lts
creation and although some volunteer
journalists were accepted, the tendency
was to build up the staff with civil
servants.
The Ministry of Information operated
on a basis of decentralization and the
United Kingdom was divided into some
10 regional districts, with a regional
organization in each district headquar-
ters. However, the "sit- down" warfare
of the winter of 1939-4O left these
regional Offices with but little to occupy
their time and their personnel was
reduced.
A vital aspect of its work was its
program for foreign countries.
BY the latter part Of october, 1883,
Lord Macmillan reported that foreign
publicity Offices had been established
in rs countries and localities. This num-
Der included such operations as radio
broadcasting stations. so that there might
be two or more agencies in a single large
center
The omission of any American city
from the list may be accounted for by
the fact that the British government de-
cided at the outset of the war that there
would be no propaganda" as such, in
the United States. The division of the
ministry devoted to American affairs
functioned chiefly as a service agency for
American newsmen in the United King
DOM
However the real British publicity
outlet for the United States is not the
Ministry of Information's concern at all,
aside from their American section, but
rather the duty of the British Library of
Information, which is under the Foreign
Office. and has a suite Of Offices at
Rockefeller Center, New York.
Many Problems Encountered.
The British Ministry of Information
has had many problems. In the first
place, it had the dual function of dissem-
mating news and of censoring it. or as
a member of Parliament once remarked,
it's duty was Ito supply news and to sup
press it."
AS it actually worked out, however,
although the task of censorship was in
theory delegated to division of the min
istry in reality the different govern
mental departments concerned, and par
ticularly the armed services, decided
what could be published and what could
not be. Often story might be sup
pressed by the ministry only to be given
out by the department concerned the
next day. or vice versa; or perhaps a
forbidden story would be broadcast or
aired on the floor of Parliament to the
confusion of the journalistic world.
To meet these various criticisms, it
was announced that Lord Camrose, pub
Usher of the Daily Telegraph. London,
would effect reorganization of the min
istry. He started about September 18.
1889, and he declared by the following