A JOB WELL DONE
CHAPTER 9.

It would be too much to expect that there should be complete agreement on the value of the Ministry's services during the war, or on the need for a Ministry of Information or similar body in the future or in any future war in which the United Kingdom might be involved. As a journalist of some experience and as a wartime Civil Servant I believe that viewing the Ministry of Information in an impartial manner it filled a most vital need for the Press and the public during the difficult wartime years. I have come to the conclusion that much of the criticism of the Ministry was due to ignorance of its many-sided activities and the mistaken notion existing in some quarters that its ramifications were confined purely to restrictive and negative objects, rather than to the explanation to the freedom-loving peoples of the world the truth about the war, however unpleasant that truth might be.

The basis of the Ministry's work in this Region, in common with all other Regions, has been to pursue a policy directly opposed to the Nazi theory of propaganda which believed in lies as allies and in the spreading of distorted news to affect the minds of potential victims.

I believe that the greatest achievements of the Ministry of Information have been in its work for the Press and by this I mean the manner in which it has made it possible for the Press to do better their own particular and vitally responsible jobs. No ex-Press man who became a wartime Civil Servant would claim that a Civil Servant could do a professional journalist's job better than he could do it himself, and in the Ministry of Information's attitude to the Press in this Region the policy has always been followed that a good facility is far better than a good “handout”. If it were generally known that a great deal of the Ministry's time has been spent in providing facilities for Press representatives to ease their task in presenting their own stories to the public, the Ministry's work would be far more highly valued by the general public than it has been. In this respect alone the Ministry of Information in this Region has in my view justified its existence. It did not at the same time tend to destroy the individuality or the enterprise of any one paper as against another. It gave every newspaper the same facilities, leaving each newspaper full scope to use its own methods of treatment of stories, always covered, of course by the requirements of a security censorship.

Another dominant feature of the Ministry's work has been its part in strengthening international relations, not only between the great Powers but between the peoples of the United Kingdom and the peoples of the countries once dominated by Nazism, for whose countless speakers the Ministry has given a ready platform throughout the war. The war itself immensely improved people's knowledge and geography; in the same way the facilities that the Ministry has offered to various speakers from all countries allied against the threat of Nazi domination, provided more than a geography lesson to the people, it has provided a keen and living insight into the political systems and hopes of the countries with whom the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth will be working hand in hand in the brighter world to come.

More important still, but in a different sphere, has been the Ministry's work through its Regional film scheme. I believe the non-theatrical film scheme of the Ministry of Information has been the most romantic and the most potent war activity of the Ministry. Thousands of people who would never attend public meetings have clamoured for Ministry of Information films. Many of these people in half-hidden villages, scattered in remote country areas, had never seen a film before the Ministry's units pioneered into their districts. The Ministry's film operators, working with a petrol generator in village halls have been, in many cases, the only link between busy farm workers and world events. The film has proved itself during the war to be the greatest medium for “putting over” to the public news and guidance about the progress of the war and how the Services did the greatest job in history, and it is already clear that this form of propaganda, for want of a better word, should play an important part in the information plans of any Government department.

This sketch of the services of the Ministry which have more than justified its existence shows that the Ministry of Information can be of value when completely divorced from Party politics. It has shown that there is a place for a centralised medium of information from the Government to the people. My own view is that some form of centralised Government information service can play an equally vital part, not only in a future emergency, but in the normal life of the British people. There are countless laws and proposals which affect the lives of all people, which are far removed from the political scene, and on which the public should be fully informed. There is, too, a very real demand for the British way of life to be presented to the other countries of the world. What better way to achieve this is there than by opening the door of Britain to the Press and official visitors from all over the world so that they may have the opportunity of seeing Britain in peace after having seen her at war? And they could tell Britain at the same time something of their own countries in exchange. This is an aspect of the Ministry's work which can be far more greatly developed in peace than in war. International relations are a vital factor in the rebirth of world understanding and with the lessons and mistakes of the past to work on, an organisation similar to the Ministry of Information could provide a ready channel for our overseas visitors to put over the British way of life to their own countries.

In spite of the unavoidable early criticism of the Ministry of Information I think its value came to be appreciated as a vital wartime Government Department in all parts of the United Kingdom, and it seems clear that if Britain were again involved in war an organisation similar to the Ministry of Information would be a desirable part of Britain's plan to create an informed public. With the experience of this war to build on the Ministry could start with essentials instead of starting on a much wider plan and progressively decreasing its work to get down to what have come to be regarded as its most vital services. In future much of the work undertaken by the Ministry of Information in the early days of this war could be ignored from the beginning. I think it is unnecessary to present a case for a Ministry of Information in wartime. Without publicising itself the Ministry has, by dint of hard work and efficient service to the public, won a place for itself in the hearts of the Press and all thinking people. This is all the justification that any Government Department should need.