The relations between the Ministry of Information, the B.B.C. and
other departments concerned with propaganda of one kind and another have always been a little difficult to disentangle, but I confess I am astonished to learn that the B.B.C. has unfettered control over the most important instrument of propaganda we possess, the broadcasts in German to Germany. This seems to me all wrong. Though little is said about it, most people know that in this war, as in the last, an organisation has been set up, staffed by persons well versed in German history and German psycho- logy, to deal with propaganda in Germany, as other organ- isations deal with propaganda in neutral countries. It knows well what positive propaganda—primarily news pure and simple, to which the B.B.C. does not confine itself—is calculated to be effective, and equally what mistakes to avoid—which the B.B.C. does not always avoid. There ought clearly to be much closer co-ordination of the two bodies, and in case of a difference of opinion the decision should not rest with the B.B.C. For this particular—and supremely important—purpose its transmitters should be at the disposal of the body set up by the Government to study precisely this problem and take the necessary steps.
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