CENSORSHIP IN EIRE
Sur,—Mr. M. O'Brien's comparison between Eire and other neutral countries greatly assists the argument of my article. He refers to an article in The Times about a country which he does not name, but in which Allied propaganda circulates less freely than in Eire. The article proves to be about Switzerland, and has the headline " Resisting the Assault of German Propaganda." The writer says that the Swiss Press is doing " a magnificent job " by keeping the people well informed. My submission was that the Press in Eire is not doing a magnificent job, because the censorship makes that impossible. It is not only in Switzer- land that the Press is courageous and outspoken, whatever its views. The same is true of Sweden and Turkey also. Only in Eire are the papers condemned to an insipidity which is a disgrace to the Press and an unreal detachment which is a danger to the country.
In saying that the censorship favours the Axis T did not suggest malice. My experience, based on working under the censorship, is that the censors are more careful to delete anything even remotely likely to annoy the Germans than they are to spare Allied—or more properly British— feelings. This I believe to be because they consider the Germans more likely to retaliate, and because a tradition of hostility to British arms • has survived the struggle of twenty years ago and all that went before it. Like Mr. O'Brien, I have occasionally seen films in Dublin showing the American forces, but never one showing the British forces. And he must be aware that one of the main objects of the censorship is to conceal • a circumstance highly unfavourable to the Axis. It is the fact that thousands and thousands of Southern Irishmen are fighting for the Allies, and that they include some of the most illustrious sailors, soldiers and airmen of the British forces.—Yours, &c.,
THE WRITER OF THE ARTICLE.
Previous page
