§ Mr. N. Bowerasked the Minister of Information if he will take powers to prevent certain newspapers continually publishing over-optimistic reports concerning the progress of the fighting on the Western front in view of the depression and despondency created in the public mind by the publication of reports which subsequently turn out to have no foundation in fact.
§ Mr. BrackenNo, Sir. I disagree with my hon. Friend's assumption as much as I should deplore his remedy. War correspondents may be occasionally optimistic: so, for that matter, are the fighting men they work among: but I do not think that their reports would be better, and they would certainly merit less confidence, if they were edited by the Government.