§ 54. Mr. HOGGEasked the Prime Minister whether he will state the principles upon which information is given out by the official Press Bureau; and whether, in view of the fact that the nation is interested in the movements of our own troops, etc., he can see his way to establishing a censorship, assisted by trained journalists, who will communicate to the public what they are reasonably entitled to expect?
§ Sir HENRY NORMANhad given private notice of the following question: To ask the Prime Minister if he will cause the methods of supplying news of the British Expeditionary Force to be reconsidered, in order that the British public may be no longer chiefly dependent upon foreign sources for information of their own Army?
§ The PRIME MINISTERThe Government and the military authorities recognise to the full the strain which is placed upon the public, but more especially on the relations of those on active service, by the scarcity of information from the front. They will do all in their power to relieve the strain. The Official Press Bureau is the mouthpiece through which communications relative to the progress of naval and military operations are made public by the Admiralty, the War Office, and other public Departments concerned. The principle upon which information is given to the public is that all information which 151 can be given without prejudice to the public interest shall be given fully and given at once. This has been done, and will be done. The Director of the Bureau has access for consultative purposes to the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Secretary of State for War, and, in matters of special doubt, to myself. The question whether trained journalists could usefully be employed with the staff of the Bureau was discussed between the Director of the Bureau, representatives of the Admiralty and the War Office, and an official Press Committee. It was unanimously agreed that it was not desirable to add such persons to the staff of the Bureau, but that it was desirable that they should be associated with the work carried on by the cable censors. Steps are being taken to carry this out, and also to co-ordinate and harmonise, as far as possible, the principles upon which the censorship of Press cables and of other Press information, respectively, is carried out. The difficulty of defining general standards is not believed to be insuperable, though it is evidently great, having regard to the size of the staff required to deal with the enormous number of Press cables which are daily dispatched and received. Every effort has been made, and will be made, to consult the legitimate expectations of the Press and public, and to harmonise them with naval and military considerations.
§ Mr. HOGGEI am not referring to anything which we should not know, but to such announcements as that which was issued by the Press Bureau as to the fall of Namur. We now have in the papers information to the effect that the Namur forts are still intact. What I want to ask is that when giving out news of this kind to the Press we should have something more that would enable us to understand really what has happened?
§ The PRIME MINISTERI could not answer a question like that. The Press Bureau does not issue any announcements without taking every care to insure that they are correct.
§ Sir A. B. MARKHAMIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that military operations have been published in French, German, and Belgian papers a week before they have been published in any newspaper in 152 this country, and does he not think that it is in the public interest that the public here should know of these things as soon as the readers of these Continental papers?
§ The PRIME MINISTERI do not know that that is the case.
§ Sir A. B. MARKHAMIt is the case. I beg to give notice that I will call attention to this matter on the Adjournment.