The MOI also held back some information from the press in fear of informing German spies. If they provided information of how badly destroyed a region was or how some people would not be able to go on if more of their town was destroyed, the Germans would know where and what to bomb. It was crucial that the Germans had as little information concerning Britain as possible.
Mass observation was used by the MOI. It was useful because it let them know what the public mentality was like and therefore helped them to work out how to deliver the news about the Blitz and how to boost morale.
The Ministry of Information ended up banning certain newspapers such as the communist “Daily Worker”, which was seen as trying to undermine public morale. Some of its published articles were critical of the government and military leaders. But ministers were very sensitive to these comments and banned the newspaper even though only about one per cent of the population read it. This newspaper could hardly have had an impact on morale and its censorship only exaggerated the significance of the paper and allowed the British communists to present themselves as victims of the powerful wartime government. Then again, the suspension of the paper acted as a warning to any other tabloids that wished to criticize its country’s leaders that action would be taken against them.
The prime minister himself Winston Churchill was very sensitive to criticism and often tried to exert greater control over the press. He would file a complaint as soon as he spotted any passage reproaching the wartime officials or the military. The MOI would respond by blacking out the offending passage before it was published. One of the main tabloids that captured the prime ministers attention was the “Daily Mirror”. This paper was not dampening the war effort; it actually fully supported the war but was simply criticised ministers. This would surely have not demoralized its readers, everyone is allowed to criticise the government. But the prime minister did not like these attacks on the government and sent a formal note of warning to the paper. If it did not cease to print these pejorative articles, the paper would have to be shut down. Churchill did have reason to be worried about the paper; it was a national paper and had a circulation of about 1.9 million. It was also the paper of the citizen soldier, providing a voice for the massed ranks of conscripts through readers’ letters and a forces column. Churchill must have thought that if this paper was influencing so many of the British people and blaming the government and military officials for a number of blunders, these people would be discontent with the government. Soldiers might disagree with the officials’ decisions and in all this could damage the war effort.
What the government did control was the BBC. During the war, television was no longer broadcast but the radio was kept going. The MOI and the BBC worked well together and cooperated closely. Ministers had final authority over broadcasting policy and controlled the amount of political statements and news coverage aired. The BBC radio was the government’s most important means of communication, carrying out instructions from the MOI. The government were very aware of what role the corporation could play in influencing morale amongst the civilian population and boosting the war effort. Then again the BBC did not want to become a pawn of the government so agreed to tone down the hardships and promote the fighting spirit of the war but would not agree to broadcast blatant propaganda along with false truths.
The BBC also had a switch censor. This was someone from the government that was always listening and could stop the broadcast immediately in case anything out of line was said.
What the government could not control were other broadcastings from abroad. There was an Irish nationalist that worked for Hitler and posed as an Englishman but also despised the English. He named himself Lord Haw Haw and he broadcast his rants from Hamburg to England. He would deliver German propaganda across the Channel and ‘reveal’ that the British government were misleading people, that they were lying and the British were losing the war. At his peak, he was able to obtain an audience of about 30% of British listeners, but most of them tuned in for entertainment, not for the credibility of his revelations. To try and stem the flow of his success with the British listeners, the BBC scheduled their most popular programmes at the same time he aired, such as the play write J.B.Priestly who managed to steal back a few listeners.
The poster campaign was also an effective means of raising peoples spirits. Rousing and inspiring posters were put up all around London with slogans such as “We can do it” and “dig for victory”. The MOI also tried to shape attitudes towards the Blitz by portraying the enemy in a very negative light. In effect, some people grew tired of being bombarded by all this propaganda and no longer paid attention to it.
Cinema was one of the most important and effective means of entertainment for the civilians. Very few owned a television in those times and cinema was the second most popular for of entertainment after the radio. In those days cinema was very different to now. An entrance fee would last you the whole day and all the cinema did was show the reel again and again. These reels contained a feature length film, a news bulletin, a short MOI film and a documentary. This was a very powerful medium of communication and therefore propaganda as weekly cinema attendances reached about 25-30 million. The films were a great means of entertainment and war films were very popular. Watching a good film would brighten peoples’ spirits let them relax for a few hours. Most of the films were made to build up national morale; they told stories of soldiers and their families fighting through hardships, for example “Henry V”. The news they showed was selective and never showed anything that could demoralise the viewers. It would show the war from the MOI’s point of view which might not necessarily be the whole truth. The MOI’s short films were far less popular as the people didn’t want to listen to the ceaseless stream of propaganda, advice and instructions. Many liked the documentaries shown. These were films shot at the battlefield reporting first hand the progress of the war effort such as “Christmas under fire” and “Britain can take it”.
The government did not only use the media to hide the effects of the Blitz from its people, volunteers were recruited following bombings to remove debris, rubble and dead bodies from sight. Services were restored as quickly as possible so people could go about their lives as usual.
In conclusion, the government tried to bend and hide the full impact of the Blitz using many different methods, mainly the press, the radio and cinema. They tried not to lie to their people but used ‘white lies to hide certain truths. But all of this was done for the benefit of the country and the British war effort.
