MINISTRY OF INFORMATION THE PRESS IN WAR TIME N.B.—This document is not intended for textual reproduction, but simply for reference purposes. In using this document readers are asked to beat in mind the date of issue. 16th February 1944. PASSED BY BRITISH CENSOR. QUOTE No. Q.5554.INTRODUCTION Before the war the British Press was a large and fast growing industry. In 1930 it ranked as 23rd of the major British manufacturing industries in order of the number of persons employed (Industry Tables of the 1931 census estimated this to be 79,620, an increase of over 20,000 since 1921) and as 11th in net output. In 1936 the circulation of morning papers was approxi- mately 13,000,000 or 95 for every 100 families, while Sunday papers were produced at the rate of 130 per 100 families. Between 1929 and 1939 every British newspaper of note completely rebuilt or extended its plant to meet the demands of still rising circulation and increased advertising. It was moreover an industry containing a high proportion of skilled personnel. A Political and Economic Planning broadsheet, published 1935, showed firstly that 20,000 or 30% of those engaged in newspaper production were administrative staff, compared with a figure of 10% for industry as a whole ; secondly that about one-sixth of the employees, or more than four times the average for all industries, were skilled workers ; thirdly that the ratio of men to women workers rose from 515 in 1921 to 644 in 1931 as against a drop in industry as a whole from the already substantially lower figure of 240 to 236. Finally the industry was privately owned, financed and controlled (see Appendix A) and exercised that liberty in the purveyance of news and expres- sion of opinion praised by Wilkes in his North Briton (1762) as “ the birthright of a Briton and justly esteemed the firmest bulwark of the liberties of this country.” It .is against this pre-war background of independence, expansion and a growing degree of technical skill in all branches of the newspaper industry that changes brought about by war-time conditions must be considered. Newsprint Supply (i) General Before the war, English mills were producing about 900,000 long tons of newsprint annually from imported pulp, 80% of which came from Scandinavia. The supply was augmented by some 300,000 tons of imported newsprint, purchased by a number of London and provincial papers direct from mills in Canada, Newfoundland and Scandinavia. This brought the total annual supply in Great Britain to 1,200,000 tons. In 1938 newspapers and periodicals of all classes were estimated to be using between 21,000 and 23,000 tons weekly. Since the beginning of the war, the consumption figure has dropped by nearly 80%, the present rate of weekly usage being approximately 4,850 tons. This reduction has been effected by joint action on the part of the news- papers acting through the. Newsprint Supply Company (see Appendix D) and the Government, through the Paper Control, established as a Department of the Ministry of Supply in September 1939 under Regulation 55 of the Defence Regulations. Broadly speaking, it may be said that the Government fixes the tonnage available, while the Company and the Newsprint Division of the Paper Control are responsible for its equitable and economic distribution. 3(II) Restrictive Measures The steps taken in reducing newsprint consumption at various periods during the war have been as follows : (1) An arrangement, in which newspapers co-operated, whereby supplies were restricted to 60% of the quantity in the reference period 1938-1939. This operated between September 1939 and July 1940, when the import of pulp and newsprint was governed mainly by considerations of shipping space, and both were available in sufficient quantities to meet current demands. Total average weekly usage during the period was approxi- mately 14,500 tons. (2) A Paper Control Order (No. 19) issued June 1940, limiting the number of pages to be published according to the pre-war page area and price of the newspaper concerned. This was imposed to meet the sudden shortage of newsprint created by Germany’s invasion of Norway, which closed the Baltic and cut off Scandinavia as a source of supply. At the same time the Newsprint Supply Company introduced pegged circulation, which fixed the weekly number of copies a paper might publish at a figure not to exceed that of the week immediately preceding the intro- duction of the scheme. The effect of these measures was to bring down average total weekly usage between July 1940 and March 1941 to approximately 6,800 tons. (3) A 17% cut in March 1941 on the tonnage allocated in the first pegged circulation period, which reduced the average total weekly usage to approximately 5,800 tons. (4) The introduction in April 1941 of the “ basic ration ’’ scheme, under which each newspaper was allotted sufficient tonnage to cover a given reference period circulation with a reduced number of pages (usually 75% of that allowed under Control Order 19) decided on by the News- print Supply Company on the basis of weekly stock and consumption returns submitted to them. (No paper was obliged to accept the new page limitation ; all were entitled to continue publishing up to the maximum allowed under Order 19 and meet the new tonnage allocation by reducing their circulation.) The effect of the scheme was to reduce total average weekly consumption to approximately 4,850 tons. (5) A 10% cut in March 1942 on the figure of the preceding period, bringing the total average weekly consumption down to 4,430 tons. (6) A further 2}% cut in February 1943. From this date until September 1943, when an 11J% increase was granted in order to meet the growing demand of members of the Armed Forces for newspapers, total average weekly consumption was at the low level of approximately 4,320 tons. Other methods adopted to conserve paper supplies have been : (a) Paper Control (No. 16) Order which banned the manufacture of competing news bills. Newspapers are now supplied with permanent placards saying, for example, “Read the War News in the Star” and newsvendors chalk topical headlines on blackboards. 4(b) Paper Control (No. 48) Order prohibiting the publication of any news paper not printed in Great Britain before August 1940, without special authority—exceptions were made in the case of publications directly connected with the war effort—and limiting publication intervals for all newspapers to those obtaining before that date. (c) The abolition of the “ sale or return ” system, whereby newsagents in pre-war days received an allowance from the newspapers for any unsold copies. This was for a time enforced by Statutory Order, but the rigidity imposed was found to cause undue hardship—for instance, a consignment of papers might be held up 24 hours owing to sudden pressure of traffic on a local railway line and so become a total loss to the newsagent—and the Order was subsequently lifted. At present the matter is dealt with by the newspapers themselves; doubtful cases, such as that referred to above, being passed to the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association or the Newspaper Society for a final ruling. As a result of the ban, newsagents regulate their purchases by their standing orders, and until September of this year when the increased allowance of newsprint enabled newspapers to produce additional copies (the total daily increase is 2,000,000), it was rare to be able to buy an odd copy of any newspaper from a bookstall. Furthermore, a request from a customer to a newsagent for the regular delivery of a particular newspaper might often remain unfulfilled for several weeks until a previous subscriber had cancelled his order and thus released a copy. (d) The introduction on February 15,. 1943, of a lighter weight paper—14-lb. demy instead of 14f-lb. demy. This enabled papers to keep up the number of pages or copies produced with no increase in tonnage consumed. (Ill) Stocks of Newsprint Every newspaper at present has a stock of newsprint sufficient for 20 weeks’ consumption at the current rate. Between 1940 and 1942 the industry found itself in the position of having increased its reserves for 14 weeks’supply to 32. As a result of negotiations carried out between the Newsprint Supply Company and the Government, in November 1942 it was agreed to reduce stocks over the following 8 months to 16 weeks’ supply in order to make available for more urgent purposes the ships in the Company’s service. An extra 4 weeks’ supply was later arranged. The following table sets out in concise form the position between June 1940 and November 1942. Stock Tons Weekly Usage No. of Weeks’ Tons , Stock 27.5.40 200,000 14,500 14 30.3.41 177,600 5,800 31 1.1.42 163,000 4,850 34 13.4.42 145,250 4,430 33 1.8.42 140,500 4,430 32 1.10.42 138,000 4,430 32 (IV) Changes in Size and Format Before the war, a large (in this sense large indicates a page area of over 250 square inches) London-published daily newspaper produced from 16 to 24 pages every day, and a provincial daily from 8 to 12 pages. Sunday 5papers carried from 20 to 34 and local weekly newspapers up to 24 pages per copy. Today the vast majority of large London and provincial dailies issue a 4-page paper ; the small dailies and “ tabloids ” an 8-page paper, while the Sunday papers appear in 6-to 8-page editions. The main exception to the 4-page daily rule have been the 3d. Times, the 1 |d. Daily Telegraph, the 2d. Manchester Guardian, Scotsman and Glasgow Herald, which have habitually published larger issues. This is partly due to their higher price—under Control Order (No. 19) a large daily newspaper selling for 2d. or over in the immediate pre-war year had its upper page limit fixed at 60 per week, one selling at l£d. at 38 per week, while one selling at less than l£d. at only 36 per week ; partly to a voluntary cut in circulation and partly to the fact that they carry a large amount of classified advertising recognised even in war time as a desirable public service. The Times has also retained its position as the recognised medium for full reports of Parliamentary debates and legal cases. At present The Times and Manchester Guardian vary from 8 to 10 and 6 to 8 pages respectively, the Daily Telegraph from 4 to 6. Local weeklies also vary the size of their editions. The limitation of 12 pages per week imposed upon them by Control Order 19 was altered by a Directive to that Order in November 1940, which extended the reference period for this category of newspaper (defined as one published for normal circulation only within the area of the district, borough, city, county, town and parish where it is published) to 3 months to allow for seasonal advertising. This means that a local weekly selling at 2d. or over in the immediate pre-war period may publish up to 156 pages in 13 consecutive issues beginning January 1, April 1, July 1, October 1, of any year. The page allowance for cheaper papers of this kind is reckoned on the same basis. No exact figures for the rate of reduction since September 1939 can be given, as this has necessarily varied according to the page area, price and publication frequency of the different classes of newspaper. But taking a large national daily as an example, the rate has been as follows :—between September 1939 and April 1940 the paper produced 12 pages ; between April and July 1940 : 8 ; between July 1940 and March 1941 : 6 ; between March and April 1941 : 6 on 4 days, 4 on 2 days ; from April 1941 to the present day : 4. The problem of compression facing the newspapers—within these few pages they must publish the whole news of the war, the ordinary domestic news and such advertising as possible—has been solved in a variety of ways. The most obvious layout changes have been (a) the use of narrower margins, (b) the adoption of condensed type, (c) the increase of columns per page—all standard size (i.e. 22£-inches cut off length of column) except The Times now has 8 columns instead, of 7 ; the Daily Mirror has 6 columns instead of 4 ; the Daily Sketch 5 instead of 4, and (d) the reduction in headline and title space. Reading matter has been cut down to bare essentials. In general, news reports are shorter and more concise than before the war; subsidiary features (symposiums) have almost disappeared ; the “ crime ration ” is restricted ; pages devoted to sport and finance have become odd columns (the greatly reduced activity in both these spheres made reduction here easy) ; women’s and children’s sections no longer appear regularly and some papers have 6eliminated them altogether ; finally such unjournalistic schemes as free insurance, competitions, etc., which a number of papers had adopted as weapons in the pre-war battle for circulation, have been universally abolished. (V) Changes in Expenses The drop in the manufacturing capacity of the home mills from 100% to 15% caused partly by the shortage of rjiw material—home-produced pulp is scarce and although imports from Canada have increased from 72,000 tons in 1939 to 270,000 tons in 1943, this represents only a fraction of the pre-war imported tonnage—partly by the drain on manpower, together with the high cost of imported pulp due to transport and labour charges, have almost trebled the cost of newsprint. The following table illustrates the steady increase in price per ton from the 1939 figure of £11 5s. Od. per ton. Controlled. Equalised. 28.2.40. ... £21 10s. Od. 27.5.40 £22 1 Is. 6d. £22 10s. Od. 1.7.40. £24 0s. Od. £24 0s. Od. 26.10.40. £28 10s. Od. £26 0s. Od. 1.1.42. £28 15s. Od. £26 0s. Od. 13.4.42. £30 0s. Od. £28 0s. Od. 1.8.42. £30 0s. Od. £29 0s. Od. 1.10.42. ... £30 15s. Od. £30 2s. 6d. 8.2.43. £32 5s. Od. £31 12s. 6d. (These prices are all fbr long tons, i.e. 2,240 lb.) The practice of equalising the prices as between imported and domestically produced paper has proved sound. It has been operated by the Newsprint Supply Company, who by agreement distribute all newsprint through the home mills paying them a commission out of their profits made op the sale of imported paper on each ton of domestically produced sold at less than the controlled rate. Throughout the operations the import of Canadian paper has been possible at approximately £5 per ton less than the price of home produced. By the end of November 1942 approximately £700,000 had been paid to the home mills in commission and equalisation of price. One effect of the increased prices has been to offset to a certain degree the drop in newspaper publication costs caused by restricted paper supplies. For instance, a London daily paper with a circulation figure of 2,000,000 producing 24^pages 6 days a week used, in 1938, 1,700 tons of newsprint weekly. At the pre-war pjrice of £11 5s. Od. per ton, the weekly expenditure on paper was £19,125. If prices had remained static, the same paper with the same circulation figure producing 4 pages on paper 10% lighter than the pre-war quality would at present be spending a weekly sum of only £2,870. In fact such a newspaper today must spend £7,650 per week, so that while reduction in weight consumed has been over 80% that in expenditure on newsprint is only about 63%. 7(VI) Circulation Figures Generally speaking, newspaper sales over the past 4 years have tended to increase. A recdnt survey (a) carried out by the World's Press News showed that between June 1939 and June 1943 the popular national newspapers (morning) recorded a decline in circulation of approximately 4-7%; the London evening papers a gain of 9-2% ; the Sunday papers a gain of 18*2% ; the provincial morning papers a gain of 10*6% and the provincial evening papers a gain of 3*75%. Variations between individual papers in each of these classes—for instance the Daily Express registered an increase from 2,510,019 in June 1939 to 2,531,000 in June 1943 although the class as a whole showed a decrease —have been due mainly to the management of current newsprint allocations and such extraneous factors as the movements of population (the Daily Express prints in both Glasgow and Manchester and is therefore able to secure in those areas what it may have lost through the evacuation of London) and are not the result of competitive selling. Unavoidably the spirit of sales competi- tion which in pre-war days flourished between the national dailies and between rivals in the provinces was one of the first casualties of war-time restrictions and controls. The only papers which have shown a marked decrease in circulation figures as a result of newsprint shortage are those such as The Times (between June 1939 and June 1943 sales dropped from 200,869 to 157,739, i.e. by 25%) and the Daily Telegraph (from June 1940, when the circulation figure reached 913,997, sales dropped to 649,662), which for reasons of policy already explained deliberately cut their sales. In these cases the practice developed among readers and widely encouraged by newspaper managements of passing copies on means that circulation figures do not accurately reflect the number of readers. (a) N.B. Made only from papers belonging to the Audit Bureau of Circulation. Must not therefore be taken as complete. The Press and the State (i) Press Censorship In Great Britain Press Censorship is voluntary. The Government has no statutory powers to stop the publication of any material, whether concerned with the war or not, designed for home consumption. All it can do is to give its authority through the Press Censorship Division of the Ministry of Informa- tion to the publication of material which it is satisfied is of no value to the enemy and to extend its protection to any paper publishing material so approved. No paper is obliged to submit its reports or articles for censorship, nor can it be punished for the mere act of ignoring or disobeying official sanctions ; but by publishing forbidden or uncensored items it runs the risk of prosecution under Defence Regulation 3 for the offence of publishing information of value to the enemy and endangering the security of the State. Comment is not censorable. Papers are free to discuss and criticise Govern- ment policy at will—a freedom they have exercised consistently during the four years of war, as illustrated, for instance, by the outcry at the lack of 8adequate arms and aircraft at Dunkirk ; the campaign for the provision of properly built hygienic shelters during the “ Blitz ” ; the criticism of the conduct of the war in the Far East during 1941 ; the recent protestations against the acceptance of the inclusion of the notorious Generals Roatta and Ambrosia in the Badoglio Government, and the current recommendations that authorities in this country should adopt a more active and realistic policy in regard to post-war reconstruction. The Government is only concerned with Press opinion when this is per- sistently of a nature likely, in the words of the Minister of Home Security, January 1, 1941, “ to create in readers a state of mind that would cause them to refrain from co-operating in the national effort and might cause them to be ready to hinder it.” A paper may, on these grounds, be temporarily or permanently banned, as occurred in the case of the Daily Worker between 1941 and August 1942. In dealing with Press material, the Press Censorship Division has a double duty to perform—the first, as stated, to ensure as far as possible that no informa- tion of value to the enemy appears in any newspaper, journal or book published in Britain ; the second to free to the public the maximum amount of news in the shortest possible time. , The proper performance of this duty depends on the voluntary co-operation of editors, which has been widely and readily forthcoming. Every editor has in his possession a document known as Defence Notices, drawn up by mutual agreement before the war by representatives of the Press and various Govern- ment Departments, listing those subjects on which nothing should be published without the censor’s advice. The list has been revised from time to time and is supplemented by Confidential Letters to Editors as and when the situation demands. The actual machinery of censorship works as follows : Material is submitted voluntarily either by hand or by post to the Home News Section of the Press Censorship Division.by the daily and weekly news- papers and by news agencies distributing to subscribers in this country. The censors and clerks of the section operate for 24 hours a day every day of the year, and are available for discussion and consultation at any time. Articles and reports sent in are required to be marked clearly with (a) the name of the newspaper and/or news agency submitting, (b) the title or subject matter (c) the category involved i.e. Air, Sea, Military or Miscellaneous. Proofs are examined according to priority of receipt, except in the case of copy wanted for afternoon or evening newspapers or for immediate distribution by the news agencies, which is given priority over less urgent copy. Copy for daily or Sunday papers is also normally given precedence over copy for periodicals, unless the latter would thereby suffer injury. If words or sentences in an article are deleted by the censors, no other alterations are made in the text except such as may be necessary to preserve the sense and conceal the cut. If articles cannot be passed, nor passed with cuts, they are “ held ” against a possible release at a later date and the submitter advised accordingly. As soon as it is finally confirmed that a submission is 9unlikely to be released at all or will be valueless if released later, it is returned marked “ Not Passed.” The submitter may, in such an event, re-submit at a later date if circumstances change. The Home News Section has at its disposal a panel of service advisers, competent to pass expert judgment on reports and stories concerning the Arm'ed Forces. To ensure speed and uniformity in the treatment of scientific material, a Technical Section of specialists exists for the censorship of Press matter submitted by technical or trade journals. For the day-to-day guidance of journalists, the Co-ordination and Direction Section, in charge of four assistant Directors and in operation at all hours of the day and night, issues regular lists of “ Stops,” “ Qualified Releases ” (these follow the removal of stops, but maintain certain restrictions usually of a technical nature) and “ Releases ” on news and general information. Incoming Press telegrams are not censored in this country, since as a rule they have been passed at the point of origin ; nor are incoming Press telephone messages, though these are under supervision. Photographs are dealt with in the Photographic Section which is concerned not only with the censoring of photographs submitted by the Home Press, but also with the examination of incoming postal packets containing Press photographs intended for publication in Great Britain. Finally, arrangements are made through the Scrutiny and Correspondence Section to scrutinise as many as possible of the papers published in the U.K. for the purpose of security checking. Steps are taken, where necessary, to remind editors of their responsibilities and it is through the work of this section that a prosecution could, in a serious case be evoked. (II) Official News and Press Conferences All Government news is issued to the Press through the News Division of the Ministry of Information, which receives communiques, special announce- ments and news stories from all the Service and other Departments, as well as ■from other Divisions in the Ministry. Furthermore by special arrangement with the B.B.C. the News Division is responsible for providing journalists with advance copies of broadcasts both in Home and foreign programmes. News issued through this channel reaches a daily average total of 35,000 words and although only a certain proportion appears in the form in which it is handed out—newspapers preferring to write up their own copy—it is widely used for reference purposes. Press Conferences at which experts give background information to the news concerning their Departments are held regularly by the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Economic Warfare, the Admiralty, the Air Ministry and the War Office. Journalists have an opportunity on these occasions to seek clarifi- cation or amplification of any official statement or news report. Further, special Conferences are arranged from time to time, at which Ministers, important visitors from overseas, members of Allied Governments and men who have taken part in Combined Operation raids and in other important or dramatic military, navaA or air engagements are publicly “ interviewed ” by newspaper men. The holding of these Conferences is a war-timfe innovation, except in the case of the Foreign Office. IO(III) Official War Correspondents Papers wishing to send correspondents to any battle area must apply to the War Office for permission to do so. When this has been received, a correspondent is issued with a uniform bearing distinctive insignia and is free to proceed to his destination whenever transport allows. As a general rule newspapers are permitted to send 2 and agencies 3 correspondents to any established war theatre. At the beginning of December 1943 there were 103 accredited war correspondents from Great Britain in theatres of active operation. Casualties from September 1939 to December 1943 were 4 killed and 1 injured. The right of correspondents on the battlefield to the greatest possible freedom of action within the limits imposed by the military situation is now fulty recognised. Where the nature of an operation makes it impossible to grant equal facilities to all correspondents, from one to ten are selected by rota and their copy is made available to the whole Press. This system, known unofficially as the British News Pool system, is under the jurisdiction of the military authorities who have the authority to limit or increase the number of correspondents covering any one action or series of actions. One of the best examples of the “ pool ” system in operation was given at the Dieppe Raid in August 1942, when the late A. B. Austen of the. Daily Herald covered the operation for the whole London Press. Newspapers may, if they choose, “ share ” a war correspondent. This means that they are equally responsible for paying his salary and general expenses and have an equal right to print his copy. It is often done where a limited number of corresponderits only are allowed in any one theatre. “ Sharing ” also takes place between Dominion and British newspapers and it is no uncommon thing for an Australian paper’s correspondent in the Pacific to forward a copy of his dispatches to a London newspaper at a prearranged rate of pay. In the air, the reporters have been allowed to go on various operational flights, notably in Sunderlands over the Bay of Biscay and Lancasters or Halifaxes over Berlin. Here the normal procedure is for the Air Ministry to notify the Press of the facilities arranged. The same practice is adopted by the Admiralty, and war reporters have covered naval engagements from the decks of destroyers, battleships and aircraft carriers. - (IV) Local War Correspondents As part of the invasion preparations set in motion, in this country in June 1940, the newspapers in conjunction with the War Office established (a) a central panel of 8 war correspondents in London to proceed in the event of enemy landings, as and when transport allowed, to the affected areas to cover the news of the fighting, (b) accredited correspondents in provincial newspaper offices up and down the country, who, in the event of incidents in their area would immediately become war correspondents for that region. These corres- pondents were chosen from the established staff of morning and evening provincial papers. By agreement with the. War Office, their copy was to be made available not only to their own papers, but to news agencies for general release. This arrangement still stands.(V) Service Reporters As a supplementary service to the Press, designed not to compete with but to fill in the gaps inevitably left by accredited war correspondents, the War Office has developed a service, known as the Officer Observer Scheme, which provides human stories of British Army activities for provincial newspapers. The scheme was launched in the Middle East in February 1943, when 6 officers with journalistic experience were assigned the task of collecting stories with a local angle which would make them particularly suitable for placing in the home area of the individual soldier or regiment described. Copy was prepared and sent to the Public Relations headquarters of the Middle East Command. Stories thought to have a wider than purely local interest and which the national newspapers might use were issued as official handouts to correspondents on the spot. The remainder were dispatched, after censor- ship, by air to the War Office and thence to the Ministry of Information for distribution. The contents were frequently revised and edited by the Regional Offices of the Ministry before final release. The service proved successful and now operates on the above pattern in all overseas war theatres. Roughly 60 to 100 handouts are prepared from each consignment of material flown to Britain. Copy from the Sicilian and Italian battlefields and from North Africa is handled at headquarters in North Africa ; from Palestine,' Syria, Egypt, etc., at headquarters in the Middle East. The Admiralty operates a somewhat similar scheme in this country. A certain number of commissioned officers with pre-war newspaper experience are stationed at various British ports, ready to sail in home waters. Their function is to provide material for newspaper and magazine articles to add to that collected and prepared by accredited war reporters. Additional Press material is supplied by the Air Ministry through its comprehensive Public Relations Branch. In Britain, each area is covered by a separate section, staffed by several officers recruited from peace-timejournalists. Each section submits its copy to the central news editor in London, whose function it is to see that it is placed in the most useful and advantageous way. Many Public Relations Officers are qualified as air gunners and have taken part in operational flights. Overseas the duties of the Public Relations Officer are mainly confined to acting as conducting officer to war correspondents and satisfying as far as possible their requirements in their search for news. (VI) cc Home Front ” Reporting Facilities are granted to national and provincial newspapermen to visit naval bases, army camps, R.A.F. stations and factories of the Ministry of Supply and the Ministry of Aircraft Production. The visits are arranged by the Reception and Facilities Section of the Ministry of Information in con- junction with the Department concerned. Manpower and the Press (i) General. Before the war, there were about 9,000 journalists in this country. Well over one-third of this number are now in the forces, and a substantial proportion of the remainder in non-journalistic work. On the printing side at least 100,000 men and women have been transferred from the industry to other work. 12(ii) Men. In September 1939 a Schedule of Reserved Occupations was introduced under which reservation applied to the following groups of men in the newspaper industry :— (1) Editorial : members of Editorial Staffs of newspapers (including photographers), periodicals and newsagencies, of the age of 30 and over at registration. (2) Administrative : accountants ; company secretaries ; office managers ; department managers ; chief clerks, chief cashiers ; senior general clerks ; costing clerks at the age of 30 or over. Shorthand writers at the age of 35 or over. Labour managers ; works managers ; assistant works managers ; factory managers ; department managers and other grades above foreman where not otherwise' specifically reserved, at the age of 25 or over. (3) Mechanical : compositors ; linotype, monotype and intertype operators ; printing machine minders ; stereotypers ; electrotypers ; lithographers, copper and steel plate workers ; photogravure workers ; process engravers; bookbinders and all other workers in printing in occupations not otherwise specifically reserved, excluding warehouse hands, at the age of 30 or over. (4) Distribution : drivers of heavy motor-vans, heavy lorries and tractors at the age of 25, drivers of commercial goods vehicles at the age of 30. At this stage “ reserved ” men were not allowed to volunteer for whole- time duty in any 'of the Services of National Defence, except in the Auxiliary Fire Service if they had enrolled before January 1939. Papers wishing to apply for deferment for any of their staff not covered by the Schedule of Reserved Occupations had to apply individually through the Ministry of Information to the Ministry of Labour and National Service for such deferment. Early in 1940 the rule forbidding “ reserved ” men to volunteer for service with the Armed Forces was rescinded. In June of the same year, to play their part in the urgent call for skilled factory workers after the fall of France, the provincial newspapers and general printing industry volunteered to transfer as many as possible of their most suitable workers to the armament industry. The transfer was organised by local committees on which were representatives of the Ministry of Labour and the employers’ and employees’ organisations. Many hundreds of skilled workers went over to war production as a result. At the gnd of April 1941 the age of reservation for mechanical grades was raised from 30 to 35. This at once increased the volume of deferment applica- tion, since due to the'work of the above committees, many newspaper houses, in the provinces at any rate, were running on minimum or near minimum printing staffs ; and consequently led to the creation early in 1941 of 4 panels of experienced newspaper executives representing respectively the national dailies, the provincial newspapers, the periodicals and trade Press and the newsagencies to act in an advisory capacity to the Ministry of Labour in this matter. 13In July 1941 the application of the amended Schedule of Reserved Occupations to the newspaper industry resulted over a given period in (a) raising the reservation age of the editorial, maintenance and distributive staff to 35, except in the case of Press telegraphists and heavy lorry drivers for whom the age limit remained at 25, (b) de-reserving the majority of mechanical workers and administrative staff, exceptions in the former case being linotype and intertype operators, monotype caster attendants, stereotypers, electrotypers and machine minders; in the latter, accountants, managers of all grades and other production grades above foreman not otherwise specifically reserved. The system of “ protected ” work (the reservation at a lower age than that generally prevailing in his occupation of an individual engaged on work of national importance) introduced in the amended Schedule, had no practical effect on the newspapers, since the industry did not apply for protection. From January 1st, 1942, when individual deferment was substituted throughout all industry for block reservation, newspaper staffs aged 35 and over became liable for military service. A system of progressive de-reservation was instituted whereby, the ages of reservation were raised by one year on the first of each month. At this point the Ministry of Information ceased to be the channel for deferment applications, the applications being sent direct to the Ministry of Labour and National Service who referred them to the four panels already mentioned. The Ministry of Labour appointed a Ministry of Labour official as committee secretary. In offering their advice to the Ministry, the'panels apply two tests to the applications—if the work is of paramount importance and if the person con- cerned is a key man who canriot be replaced. It is extremely rare that deferment is recommended for any man under 30. To date over 7,000 applications including renewals have been dealt with in this way. Until six months ago, by agreement between the Ministry of Labour and the industry, no man over military age engaged on the mechanical side of newspaper production was> affected by the Registration for Employment Order (March 1941) which laid down that any man up to 50 might, if not already employed'to the best national advantage, be compulsorily directed to work in essential industries. In July 1943 the newspaper associations were asked to review the position with the object of releasing as many mechanical workers as possible for war production. A scheme was therefore started, and is in operation at present whereby newspaper houses are required to submit to the Ministry of Labour a comprehensive statement of their staff, plant, circulation figures, etc. These statements are submitted to the panels, to which have been added representatives of the Trade Unions. These later panels are called Industrial Advisory Committees. Conclusions drawn from these statements guide the committees in their recommendations to the Ministry of Labour. 9 (iii) Women At the beginning of the war, women were used to some extent to replace men in newspaper production both on the editorial and mechanical sides. Early in' 1941 special agreements were drawn up by the employers’ organisations with the unions concerned governing the conditions of the employment of women in printing trades to which they had hitherto not been admitted. 14The National Service Act 1941, which introduced the conscription of women, slowed down the tempo of dilution along these lines since women under 25 and later under 30 were not permitted to enter the industry. Of those already engaged in it, women of 30 or over have as a general rule been allowed to remain, those between 26 and 30 have been treated as “ prior substitute ” cases, i.e., they have been allowed to continue with their work until,such times as either the newspaper employing them or the Ministry of Labour has found a suitable substitute ; under the age of 26, they have been, save in exceptional cases, transferred into one of the Services or armament factories. Deferment of women is handled in every case by the District Manpower Boards of the Ministry of Labour and National Service. Press Photography (I) General ‘ Before the war, the British Press was lavishly illustrated. Most newspapers devoted one page entirely to photographs in addition to those accompanying the text of news reports and feature articles. There was little uniformity in illustration since apart from agency services the national daily papers, the chief evening papers and many of the larger provincial papers looked to their own permanent staff of photographers, numbering in some cases between 25 and 30, for pictures, which they preferred always to be individually exclusive. Only the smaller provincial papers, which could not afford many photographers and to which exclusiveness was not of paramount importance, relied solely on the agencies and even then only for coverage of events outside their immediate locality. Since 1939 the position has fundamentally changed. The shortage of manpower has meant a reduction of about 75% in the permanent staff of individual newspapers ; the shortage of newsprint has meant a cutting down in the number of photographs printed. In general, restricted space, limited circulation and decreasing manpower available has led to a tendency in all newspapers to use only one or two pictures illustrating the main news items without thought of exclusiveness. (II) Position of Photographers in England In September 1939 a Control of Photography Order was issued imposing a ban on the taking of photographs of practically all war subjects. These included not only camps, aerodromes,, arsenals, troop movements, etc., but also factories, hospitals, bombed buildings and even groups of evacuated persons. The Order was immediately followed by the granting of exemption to a number of photographers employed by newspapers and agencies, who were issued with an official pass, permitting them to photograph all the prescribed sutjjects in any public place, with the sole proviso that prints must be approved by censorship before publication. Photographers wishing to take subjects inside factories, military camps, etc., are required to obtain ad hoc permission, but in nearly all cases this is automatically granted to those holding the official pass. Exceptions occur in certain service institutions such 15as aerodromes and naval bases and in parts of the country such as banned Coastal Districts where for reasons of security independent photographers cannot be allowed. In these cases Press photographers are supplied by the official photographer of the service concerned. (III) Service Photography In addition to specified areas in Great Britain, photographs may be taken in overseas territories where British Forces are serving only by official Service photographers. The Army has organised them in a regular Corps—The Army Film and Photographic Service. They are recruited from the ranks of peace- time Press Photographers ; with the rank of technical Sergeants, they are organised into special sections and detailed to cover all possible aspects of front line fighting as well as subjects of particular interest immediately behind the lines. Before acceptance by A.F.P.S., they must have passed through the period of training normally given to the fighting soldier and a special course of instruction in the special requirements and difficulties of battle photography. In this way they are equipped to carry out their job with maximum efficiency under the most exacting battle conditions. Royal Navy and R.A.F. have smaller but similar bodies of official photo- graphers differently organised to meet their special and more scattered needs. The Ministry of Information has also a number of photographers employed mainly for the coverage of industrial and other subjects where security is involved, and for events which under present conditions would not be covered by the Press or agency photographers. (IV) Methods of Distribution Official photographs taken in this country are after censorship distributed by the Photograph Division of the Ministry of Information through a rota system to the principal agencies. Under the normal British system the agencies submit copies of the photographs to the Press who pay only for those they publish at rates mutually agreed between the Ministry and the Press. Photo- graphs from the battle areas are brought in by air and radio to the Ministry and are distributed in the same manner. Official photographs from the Dominions, India and the Colonies are handled in a similar manner. The Ministry of Information maintains a central library through which the specialised needs of periodicals (such as the Illustrated London News), technical and trade journals are supplied. Books, exhibitions, lantern slides, film strips, etc., are handled through the same mechanism. The Industrial Press Like all other sections of the British Press, trade and technical journals serving business and industry have been affected by the paper shortage and the regulations concerning size and circulation. In addition, they have been faced with the loss of a great deal of their peace-time subject matter, since (a) wherever an industry turned over its manufacturing plant or distribution equipment to war production, its activities could no longer be published in the Press, (b) the drastic curtailment of production for normal civilian needs has resulted in little or no news of new lines. 16To meet the restrictions on newsprint, trade and technical journals are using light-weight papers. Like the popular Press, they have resorted to brief headings, condensed type, smaller and fewer pictures and shorter copy. Some have changed their format to pocket size, thereby maintaining their editorial service while increasing the niynber of advertisers they can accommodate and thus raising their revenue, since paper rates remain the same. Others, particularly the more technical which would have difficulty in scaling down to a small page the drawings, plans, blue prints and circuit diagrams which they publish, have reduced the number of pages per issue. New reading matter has been found to replace the old. Foreseeing in the early days of the war that an increased demand for maintenance and repair would follow reduction in the output of new products at a moment when manufacturers would be finding it increasingly difficult to provide this service, the Industrial Press set themselves the task of collecting, sorting and publishing information on work of this description. It is not unusual to find pages from technical journals posted in the factories to inform executives or fpremen about some process or machine, Furthermore the journals give individual guidance through the post, putting readers in touch with new sources of supply, advising on substitutes, suggesting alternative designs and acting as a clearing house for orders. The industrial Press also takes advantage of Government facility visits to munition production plants, shipyards, stores, etc., and publishes specialised information on current industrial organisation and processes. As a result of the dispersal of industry and the call-up of men to the Forces, they give more space than was their pre-war practice to items of personal news. One of their most important functions has been and still is the reporting and interpretation of Government regulations. In addition to condensing Statutory Orders into concise statements easily understood by the industry concerned, they have exercised their freedom to make responsible and con- structive criticism, as a result of which modifications in the original rulings have often been made, to the advantage of the trade and war production generally. On this subject, the principal of a large group of British industrial journals said early in 1943 “ In disseminating this essential news to manu- facturers, wholesalers and retailers concerned, the trade Press has performed, in a most economical manner, a service which has helped materially in the efficient organisation of trade and industry under war conditions. One can go further and say that the Ministries are using the trade Press as the only practical means of circulating certain vital information.” The standard of trade and technical advertising has improved in war time as many of the big advertising agencies have turned their attention to these accounts in view of the enforced decline in general Press advertising. The industrial Press may and does still carry the same proportion of advertising to editorial as obtained before the war. Those Government Departments that are concerned with Industry—Supply (Salvage Board), Production and the Board of Trade especially are consistent users of advertising space in the industrial Press. 17The Small Newspaper The main peace-time function of provincial weekly newspapers, including those with under 10,000 circulation, was the full and accurate publication of local news. It was through the impartial record presented to them by the small newspapers that millions of the inhabitants of Britain were kept informed of the day-to-day events, trends of opinion and developments in the particular district or community in which they lived. Through the war the,small newspapers have continued to provide this essential service, which has gained in importance with the movements of industrial populations and the drafting overseas of local men and women. Copies are dispatched to other parts of the country and to the overseas battle areas where they have served as a welcome link with home. The local weekly newspapers have also played their part in translating Government Orders and pronouncements into the form most useful to their own locality. For instance, when a weekly newspaper covers an agricultural area, it would ensure that local farmers and others interested would know what effect these Orders would have upon their particular industry, The restriction on newsprint consumption has, as with the daily Press, meant the issue of fewer-paged papers. A small number of weeklies have cut their editions to 4 pages, the majority publish 8. The necessity of maintaining the volume of local news, of which advertise- ments such as births, marriages, deaths, local auction sales, Local Government notices, etc., would be considered a part, has resulted in a reduction in the number of articles published. When these features do appear, they are assessed more pn their usefulness to the community—hints to housewives in dealing with food problems ; hints to farmers in overcoming war-time difficulties—than on their entertainment value. A larger proportion of advertising space in the provincial papers is devoted to classified than to any one class of display advertising. A survey published in The Wartime Trading Bulletin No. 94 taken from the findings of the American journal Editor and Publisher stated that close examination of 37 provincial papers chosen at random revealed that classified advertisements accounted for 31-5% of advertising space. Household stores were second with 14*4% ; patent medicines third with 10-5% and the Government fourth with 9-6%. The papers used in the examination averaged 6 to 7 pages and half their content was assessed as editorial. Distribution of the small weekly newspaper has been little affected by war-time transport conditions. The lighter and smaller paper has automatically reduced the space required on the trains. Where vans are used, a petrol allowance is made to the newspaper by the local Petroleum Officer. In cases where dispute over the quantity allowed arises, the Newspaper Society acts for the paper and a satisfactory arrangement is usually concluded. The mobilisation of manpower for the armed forces and for industry has caused real difficulty in some cases amounting to hardship to the small news*- papers. A questionnaire issued March 1942 to some 130 provincial newspapers revealed that 80 weeklies had only one man remaining in at least one depart- ment and that 58 would have to close down if they lost more men. None have 18in fact ceased to appear, but the majority are being published by men over military age, with the aid of men returned from retirement, the medically unfit and boys and girls below military age. In one case, for instance, where the whole of the pre-war staff of a small weekly newspaper had left, the proprietor-editor acted as his own reporter, proof-reader, lending a hand correcting galley proofs and making up the pages. His printing staff consisted of one youth aged 18, one aged 17, three aged 15 and one aged 14. Fleet Street in the Blitz The offices of many London and provincial newspapers were destroyed or damaged during the raids of 1940 and 1941. But only one paper missed publication and that for a single issue only. The London papers had planned to continue production in the provinces if the metropolis became untenable, but none were forced to adopt this expedient. The arrangements for the use of local alternative plants, made before the war, generally sufficed to_ maintain uninterrupted output and distribution. When these failed through enemy action, improvisation and co-operation within the industry kept the record unbroken. The