139 145 -7-

PRESS DEPARTMENT

PRESS CONFERENCES

A number of highly successful Press Conferences were held at the Regional Office during the war years when Editors were invited to meet important visitors to the area. These included the Rt. Hon. Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour, Rear Admiral Evans, Regional Commissioner for London, the Rt. Hon. Wolmsley, Minister of Pensions, and the Rt. Hon. Lord Wooltan, Minister of Food.

The Regional Commissioner for the North Midland Region (Lord Trent) held three Regional Press Conferences all of which were arranged by the Regional Press Officer.

On March 6th, 1940, the first interview was arranged for representatives of daily newspapers in the Region with the Regional Commissioner, to give the latter an opportunity of explaining publicly his functions. Lord Trent was accompanied by the Deputy Commissioner, Principal H.A.S. Wortley, and the Principal Officer, Mr. Frank Skevington. Reporters and photographers from Nottingham, Derby and Leicester attended. Lord Trent spoke frankly of his duties and functions as Regional Commissioner.

In December, 1940, Editors from Nottingham, Leicester and Derby were invited to discuss transport difficulties likely to arise after severe raids when putting into operation mutual assistance pacts. The need for establishing Regional Censorship was also under discussion.

A Press Conference arranged in March, 1945, at the request of the Regional Commissioner on his retirement was attended by representatives from all Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, Lincoln and Northampton newspapers. A high tribute was paid by the Commissioner who said: “We have had nothing but the greatest help from the Press of the Region. There has never been an occasion when anything has been published that we have asked should not be published. Certainly nothing has ever been published which would have embarrassed us at the Regional Office.

CENSORSHIP

In January, 1941, censorship on a Regional level began after the Press Officer had taken a Course at H.Q. In the following four and a half years eighty to ninety censorship enquiries and submissions were 140 -2-received from newspapers and business sources each month, making an approximate total of four thousand over the period. The newspapers of the Region which were given service in this way numbered 80 (including 9 dailies) and an incalculable amount of time and labour was thus saved.

MEETINGS & FILMS DEPTS.

All publicity for meetings and film shows organised by the Ministry in the Region was handled by the Press Department. Advertising was done by posters, window and bus cards, newspaper advertisements, cinema slides and by editorial write-ups in local papers.

ANGLO-AMERICAN PUBLICITY IN THE STATES

All publicity arrangements for Anglo-American celebrations, sight-seeing tours, etc., organised in the North Midland Region were handled by the Regional Press Officer of the Ministry. Stories of these functions accompanied by portraits of the U.S. Service men and women who took part were sent to seven thousand different American newspapers covering every State in the Union. Almost without exception the newspapers have printed both stories and pictures, frequently with banner headlines and appreciative editorial comment. In addition personal letters were sent to mothers or wives of several thousand of the men who enjoyed the parties provided for them, and from many of these people replies have been received expressing gratitude for the friendliness shown.

The concrete evidence available in the American press reaction and in the letters received from the States leaves no room for question that the hospitality and the peculiar form of publicity of which it formed the basis have been a material factor in dissipating hostile American criticism, (which at one time unfortunately was rife), of the treatment U.S. Service personnel were receiving amongst the people of England.

Emergency

At the end of April, 1940, a provisional scheme was drawn up for the distribution of news bulletins to newspapers within the Region in the event of the severance of telegraphic communication between London and Regional centres served by daily newspapers or between Nottingham and 141 -3-these centres. The Regional Police Staff Office arranged a scheme whereby a routine motor service for carrying despatches throughout the Region could be provided in the event of other means of communication breaking down.

Discussions were held with Post Office Officials on the practicability of a scheme for modifying the system of telegraphic communication between the daily newspaper offices in the Region with a view to making these offices the fundamental line of communication within the Region in the event of telegraphic dislocation with London. The scheme involved the linking up of the P.A. Creed facilities already in operation to the principal industrial centres of the Region.

Early in 1941 a Conference between P.O. Officials, the R.I.O. and Press Officer took place at the Regional Office on Emergency News Service and Communications within the Region. The following report was sent to Regional Administration Division:-

“Attention was concentrated at the outset on the possibility of London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds as distribution centres of the P.A. service being put out of action, either all or several of them simultaneously. How then may Nottingham as the Headquarters of the Regional Commissioner and of the Ministry be made a self-contained distribution centre, feeding all the other seven principal towns in the North Midland Region over the existing P.A. Creed system? “The routes at present used by the Press Association, Allied Newspapers, Westminster Provincial Newspapers and Associated Newspapers as shown in Appendix I were studied, and the Post Office representatives agreed to devote immediate attention to the suggestions contained in paragraph 14.

“Detailed schemes are to be prepared for submission to the several newspapers implicated, indicating how, in any of a number of conceivable emergencies, a news service, - primarily the Press Association but ultimately the bulletins of the Ministry and the Regional Commissioner - can be 142 -4-circulated to all the Regional Newspapers normally taking the P.A. service. Various re-routing possibilities were studied. Mr. Allen undertook in consultation with Post Office technicians in the various towns and switch-points concerned, to present plans and approximate costs of such suggestions as may be found to be feasible.

“Plans provisionally suggested would bring within their framework the possibility of feeding with or deriving official news from the following other Regions - Midland (Birmingham), North Eastern (Leeds), North Western (Manchester) and Northern (Newcastle).”

Ultimately the completion of a short link between Leeds and Bradford made possible an extremely intricate communication system capable of meeting almost any conceivable emergency.

At the end of 1940 the Regional Commissioner met newspaper editors from Nottingham, Leicester, and Derby and discussed mutual assistance pacts by which newspapers in the same or other towns could place their plant at the service of others damaged by raids. Coventry had proved the need.

In May, 1941, these schemes were proved effective.

On the night of Sunday, 11th May, Region No.4 (Eastern) reported by telephone that telephone and telegraph communications with London were severed and asked for assistance with an emergency news service for the morning newspapers in their Region. The Assistant Press Officer on duty secured the co-operation of the Nottingham Journal who passed on the P.A. Service (which they were receiving via Manchester, Leeds and Bradford - via the new link). This service was telephoned to Cambridge; later the Regional Office received from the Press Officer, Eastern Region, a note conveying warm expressions of appreciation from the three Editors concerned of the service rendered.

In the North Midland Region on the same date, the Emergency Communication scheme was brought into operation and worked satisfactorily. There was no direct telegraph or telephonic communication between Fleet Street and Nottingham.6 p.m. the P.A. 143 -5-Service was being telephoned to Manchester, telegraphed to the Yorkshire Post, Leeds; telephoned to the Yorkshire Observer, Bradford, where the messages were repunched and transmitted to Darlington and Sheffield, Nottingham and Birmingham.

A raid on Spalding, Lincolnshire, in the early hours of Monday, 12th May, damaged the Printing Presses of the Lincolnshire Free Press and wrecked their private power plant. Monday was publishing day and the Free Press reported that temporary arrangements for printing were made with the Peterborough Advertiser. The newspaper appeared in Spalding as usual.

During the invasion “scare” of 1940 it was considered essential that printing presses be immobilised in the event of an emergency.

Arrangements were made and Newspaper Editors undertook to instruct mechanics to be prepared on police notice to remove such parts of the presses as would put them out of action. These vital parts were to be taken under police protection. The possibility of serious damage to the Presses was thus avoided. General printers were approached through the Master Printers’ Association.

THE 1940 GOAL CRISIS

One of the most spectacular and successful achievements of the Press Department was in assisting the Mines Department to secure the continued working of the Notts and Derbys. Coal mines on Whit Monday, 1940.

The first approach to Regional Office was made by Home Division of the Ministry of Information after 12 noon on Saturday. Within a few minutes all Evening Newspaper Editors in the Notts and Derbyshire Coalfield were personally approached and persuaded to reproduce from the morning newspapers, the appeal from the Mines Department that mines should forego the holidays. Mr. G.A. Spencer, Secretary of the Notts. and District Miners’ Federated Union was contacted at 12.30 p.m. and he made a statement strongly supporting the appeal. This was supplied immediately to the Nottingham papers and was featured on their front page in all editions. The interview was then ‘phoned to the Derby 144 -6-Evening Telegraph who also agreed to feature it.

It was decided also to endeavour to secure, in addition to the substantial free news publicity, paid display space in the evening papers circulating amongst the 100,000 miners of the district.

The three newspapers - Nottingham Evening Post, Nottingham Evening News, and Derby Evening Telegraph - with a combined concentrated circulation of 170,000 enter 75% of the homes of these miners and penetrate without exception, every mining town hamlet and community.

The time then was 1.30 p.m. The advertisement copy was ready by 1.40 p.m. The edition of the evening papers, which goes to many of the outlying mining regions, goes to press at 2.30p.m. In each case the Editor and the advertisement staff were either away at lunch or gone for the day. First approaches met with the reaction that nothing could be done in time to catch the vital editions. By personal persuasion individual members of the three staffs were induced to start work on the job pending efforts to call in the authoritative persons. Taxis and phone calls for the latter were broadcast, finally with less than two minutes to spare the advertisements were planted. Only by the most extraordinarily friendly co-operation on the part of a few individuals on the three newspapers could this job have been accomplished.

The call got home! The actual effect was that five-sixths of the pits in this area and 80 per cent of the miners were working on Monday and every mine was working full blast on Tuesday.

The cost to the Ministry was approximately £40.

Another urgent instruction which rapidly reached the public via the Regional Press Officer was received from the Regional Commissioner.

Inspired by G.O.C. in C. Northern Command, an article was prepared for the Press appealing to farmers to place obstructions in their fields as a matter of immediate urgency. Almost momentarily air invasion was feared. The article was published with great prominence by every Regional newspaper and by some national newspapers.

On July 4th the Press Officer attended at the Commissioner's office when the Commissioner received a deputation of representative fanners who came to scoff at, and remained to bless his appeal for field obstructions. A report based on this interview was printed by twelve daily newspapers in the Region.

In the result the appearance of the countryside was transformed overnight. Every conceivable form of obstruction appeared in every field in which it appeared a landing might be made. The Military view was that even the slightest damage to a landing plane would be helpful to the Defence; it would prevent planes being used as ferries.

Luckily the theory was never tested, but the publicity was effective.