International Communications
This book examines the important issue of British propaganda to France during the Second World War and aims to show the value of the propaganda campaign to the British war effort.
British Propaganda to France is a unique contribution to the field, not only in its examination of one of the least well-studied areas of British activity during the Second World War but also in the breadth of its approach. It surveys the organisation, operation and nature of the British propaganda effort towards the French people, including both white propaganda (BBC broadcasts and leaflets dropped by the RAF) and black propaganda (secret broadcasting stations, documents purporting to come from the Germans in France or distributed in France using clandestine methods, and rumours). Finally it examines the contemporary British understanding of the French and German reception of and reaction to this propaganda material, to show whether the campaign was an effective and well-directed use of resources.
Almost all examinations of British foreign propaganda during the Second World War have focused on propaganda directed towards Germany. British propaganda to France, which in terms of quantity of output was actually the most important area of British propaganda, has never been examined in depth until now. This book adds a further chapter to our knowledge of propaganda in the Second World War, especially in the conduct of psychological warfare. It also touches on better-known areas such as RAF Bomber Command and its Operational Training Units, which handled aerial dissemination of British white propaganda leaflets over France, and the Special Operations Executive in France, which worked closely with the Political Warfare Executive in delivering much black propaganda.
This is a study of the British state's generation, suppression and manipulation of news to further foreign policy goals during the early Cold War. Bribing editors, blackballing "unreliable" journalists, creating instant media experts through provision of carefully edited "inside information", and exploiting the global media system to plant propaganda - disguised as news - around the world: these were all methods used by the British to try to convince the international public of Soviet deceit and criminality and thus gain support for anti-Soviet policies at home and abroad.
Britain's shaky international position heightened the importance of propaganda. The Soviets and Americans were investing heavily in propaganda to win the "hearts and minds" of the world and substitute for increasingly unthinkable nuclear war. The British exploited and enhanced their media power and propaganda expertise to keep up with the superpowers and preserve their own global influence at a time when British economic, political and military power was sharply declining. This activity directly influenced domestic media relations, as officials used British media to launder foreign-bound propaganda and to create the desired images of British "public opinion" for foreign audiences.
By the early 1950s censorship waned but covert propaganda had become addictive. The endless tension of the Cold War normalized what had previously been abnormal state involvement in the media, and led it to use similar tools against Egyptian nationalists, Irish republicans and British leftists. Much more recently, official manipulation of news about Iraq indicates that a behind-the-scenes examination of state propaganda's earlier days is highly relevant.
John Jenks draws heavily on recently declassified archival material for this book, especially files of the Foreign Office's anti-Communist Information Research Department (IRD) propaganda agency, and the papers of key media organisations, journalists, politicians and officials. Readers will therefore gain a greater understanding of the depth of the state's power with the media at a time when concerns about propaganda and media manipulation are once again at the fore.
"During the past decade a number of bloody conflicts have focused international attention on the strategic role of the media in promoting war and perpetuating chaos. The challenges posed by systematic manipulation of the media have been particularly acute in Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo, East Timor - wherever the international community intervened to prevent atrocities, or stop them, or help rebuild society in their aftermath.
Written against this backdrop, Forging Peace brings together case studies and legal analysis of the steps that the United Nations, NATO and other organisations, both governmental and non-governmental, have taken to build pluralist and independent media in the wake of massive human rights violations.
Forging Peace maps an important aspect of contemporary peacemaking. It examines current thinking on the legality of unilateral humanitarian intervention, then analyses in graphic detail the pioneering use of information intervention techniques in conflict zones, ranging from full-scale bombardment and confiscation of transmitters to the establishment of new laws and regulatory regimes.As the social and economic role of the media expands and information technology spreads, driving governments in the world's trouble spots to seek more sophisticated ways of controlling public opinion, Forging Peace looks set to influence policy and debate for years to come.
The contributors: Eric Blinderman, Patrick Carmichael, Helen Darbishire, Stephanie Farrior, Alison Des Forges, Peter Krug, Dan De Luce, Julie Mertus, Jamie Metzl, Philip Taylor, David Wimhurst.
"This book examines the evolution of British propaganda practice during the course of the twentieth century. Written by an internationally-renowned expert in the area, this book covers the period from the First World War to the present day, including discussions of recent developments in information warfare. It includes analysis of film, radio, television and the press, and places the British experience within the wider international context. Drawing together elements of the author's previously published work, the book demonstrates how Britain has established a model for democratic propaganda world-wide.This is the first volume in the new International Communications series, edited by Philip M Taylor.
