§ 33. Commander Sir Archibald Southbyasked the Minister of Information whether it is his established policy to give the British Broadcasting Corporation priority over the newspapers in the dissemination of official announcements?
Mr. CooperNo, Sir. Official announcements are issued to the Press and the B.B.C. simultaneously through the News Division of the Ministry.
§ Sir A. SouthbyIs my right hon. Friend aware of the fact that in the case of the "Arandora Star" a full account was in the hands of the Press at 1 p.m. on the day, and, although it was laid before the censor, the decision to allow the Press to publish it was delayed until it was too late, and the B.B.C. announcement at 9 p.m. was the first intimation the public had?
§ 34. Sir A. Southbyasked the Minister of Information why Canadian, Australian, South African, New Zealand, and 204 American correspondents were prevented by the censor from cabling the official announcement issued by the Colonial Office of the appointment of His Royal Highness the Duke of Windsor to be Governor of the Bahamas until after the British Broadcasting Corporation had broadcast the communiqué?
Mr. CooperThe official announcement was released to the Press and to the B.B.C. at 8.50 p.m. on 9th July, and was included by the B.L.C. in their 9 o'clock news bulletin. Owing to a misunderstanding the Censorship did not withdraw their ban on the cabling of this news to the Empire and foreign countries until 9.35 p.m.
§ Sir A. SouthbyCan my right hon. Friend say whether the B.B.C. is subject to censorship in the same way as the compulsory censorship is applied to the overseas news services, and, if not, why not? Does he intend to make the B.B.C. so subject to censorship?
Mr. CooperThat is a very big question, which I can hardly deal with in answer to a Supplementary Question. The B.B.C. is not subject to the same censorship as the Press at the present time, partly because the B.B.C. receive their news very often at the last moment while the announcer is reading the news, and it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to apply the ordinary censorship to such news. Over 90 per cent. of the B.B.C. news is actually censored because it comes from news agencies and official communiqués.
§ 33. Sir A. Southbyasked the Minister of Information why the first public intimation regarding the action against the French naval forces at Oran was in the short wave broadcast of the British Broadcasting Corporation and in certain American newspapers, whereas correspondents of Dominion and other American newspapers were prevented by the censor from releasing this news until later?
Mr. CooperThe first public intimation regarding the action against the French naval forces at Oran was given in an official communiqué which was issued simultaneously to the Press and the B.B.C. at 3.30 a.m. on 4th July, No 205 correspondents were prevented by the Censor from cabling the news contained in this communiqué, which was reproduced in many newspapers and given out by the B.B.C. in a short wave news bulletin at 3.45 a.m. and in subsequent bulletins.
§ Sir A. SouthbyCan my right hon. Friend assure the House that no special consideration was given to certain of the United States newspapers to the detriment of other United States newspapers?
Mr. CooperBefore it was decided that only the official communiqué should go out, one American Press correspondent telegraphed to his newspaper a fuller account of the battle than was afterwards allowed to go out.
§ Sir A. SouthbyDoes my right hon. Friend agree that it is very unsatisfactory that that should be so, and does he not think that the B.B.C. are having a much better deal from the Ministry of Information than are the Press?