CENSORSHIP “ADVISORY. SERVICE” SUGGESTION

So important is the whole question of achieving “balance” in every form of printed material,

(a) in order that anger shall not be overweighed by fear

(b) so as not to water down anger by the publication of specious German-inspired material (such as photos of nice-looking German soldiers and German news about peaceful “domestic” activities)

that the following recommendation is made:-

There should be means by which, without exceeding its present powers, the censorship - in conjunction with the expert propaganda control group suggested - could ADVISE as well as simply “pass” or “stop” material.

This might be done most easily by holding a series of informal conferences with publishers (on features, pictures, books etc. ) and then printing extracts of points of agreement. These, in the form of RECOMMENDATION SLIPS might then be attached by the Censors to appropriate material.

Thus a picture of a ruined village, while not technically a “stop” might nevertheless be sent back with a Recommendation Slip referring to the desirability of not printing such material without pictures of a “compensating nature”.

At present all the Censorship's careful judgment is summed up in a monosyllabic “Yes” or “No”. Why not make it more effective by introducing “Yes - but in the national interest you might bear in mind that....

Much of this is of course already done more or less informally but it would perhaps be developed so as to stop the bad “balance” still too evident in many directions.

Simple people cannot be furious at an enemy and filled with a sneaking admiration for him at the same time. He must be wholly detestable if their anger is not to evaporate in fear or treason.

The foolishly tolerant British tendency to “give old Hitler his due” can bring a terrible retribution. It is being carried much too far. We did not make this mistake last time.