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CN/202
POLICY COMMITTEE.
Thursday, November 28th,l940.

Present:

Minister

D.G.

Secretary

Parliamentary Secretary

Sir Maurice Peterson

Lord Davidson

Sir Kenneth Clark

Mr. Bamford

Mr. Fraser

Mr. Wellington

Mr. Radcliffe

Mr. Tree

Mr. Gates

Mr. Ogilvie

Mr. Ryan

Mr. Valentine Williams

Mr. Waddell (Secretary)

The minutes of the meeting on November 21st were taken as read and, subject to the deletion of D.D.G. from the list of those present, were approved.

1. EMBARGOS ON PUBLICATION OF NEWS .

Mr. Radcliffe explained that the system of embargos as described in the paper circulated had been a frequent source of trouble to the Ministry. It was a survival from pre-war times when broadcasting was still fighting its way in competition with the press. He and Mr. Fraser were agreed that if the use of the system were dropped gradually the press at home might not raise very strong objection. Mr. Fraser was anxious that the B.B.C. should not take advantage by increasing the number of news bulletins, and it was explained in this connection by Mr. Wellington that except in emergency conditions the B.B.C. have no wish to increase the number of bulletins or to break the ordinary programmes in order to make news announcements. In Mr. Wellington's view the situation now was one in which radio must be considered as competing with radio, and the national interest must be the primary consideration.

The Parliamentary Secretary suggested it would be well to circulate to Departments an explanation of the reasons for the Ministry's dislike of the embargo system, since it seemed unlikely that the Departments were properly aware of the difficulties under which the press worked. It was agreed that the consent of Departments would be necessary, and that if any disagreement arose representatives should be summoned to a conference. Mr. Radcliffe should prepare a suitable draft in consultation with Mr. Fraser, and the draft should cover, besides the removal of the embargos, the suggestion made at a recent meeting of the Will Committee that there should be a close time for news for a short period before the nine o'clock news bulletin of the B.B.C.

2. Mr. Valentine Williams referred to the German practice of releasing general communiqué about midday, and said it was known that many Germans listened to the English news at 7.0 a.m and 8.0 a.m. He suggested it might be possible each morning to include in these bulletins news of the night's raids over Germany. The Minister, however, explained that it did not seem possible to have news of the night's activities so early the following day. He knew that the Chief of Air Staff was not generally aware of what had been done the previous night until between eleven and twelve. Mr. Fraser mentioned in this connection that a day or two before, a meeting had been held with representatives of the Air Ministry and the Ministry of Home Security, to discuss the drafting and issue of bulletins. It had been agreed that the morning news bulletin should, in view of the difficulty of making it authoritative, merely consist of flashes, and that the main communiqué of the day should be issued shortly before midday. D.G. emphasised that as delivery of the morning papers could not now be relied upon to the same extent in the country, we should beware of cutting down the morning news bulletin too much.

3. Lord Davidson referred to Communist tendencies which he detected in “Picture Post”, and suggested that the Ministry might be able to take some action in regard to them. It was explained that Mr. Hulton wanted the Ministry to finance a special number, but this request had been refused since there had already been two special numbers at the Ministry's expense, and to accede to this request would involve the Ministry in difficulties with other periodicals. The Secretary made the further point that bribing in order to be good was generally much more expensive than punishing for being bad.