5. English journalism during the Second World War

The Second World War was fought on many fronts and in many regions of the world, which required a huge mobility of the journalistic corps. English correspondents covered events in Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, France, North Africa, Burma, and the Far East. Despite the increase in the mass of information received by the press, many newspapers and magazines were forced to reduce their volume, the publication of some (this was mainly for magazines) was suspended. During the war, there was an emigration press in England - those who fought with the fascist regime. The Times published the American military newspaper Stars and Stripes (Stars and Stripes). In 1941, the Information Department of the USSR Foreign Ministry in London began to publish the daily newspaper “Sovet War News” (“Soviet Military News”) and a weekly magazine the same name. By analogy in the USSR since 1942, the Ministry of Information of Great Britain issued the weekly British Ally. The exchange of publications ceased during the years of the Cold War. During the Second World War, a number of new restrictive measures were taken against the press: in particular, a system of so-called voluntary censorship was introduced. Her goal “was not to miss in the open press materials that could give the enemy information that is valuable from the point of view of waging war. This system implied control over facts, not opinions ”, but at the same time two new paragraphs were introduced into the Law on State Protection, which are precisely against freedom of expression. They allowed the Minister of the Interior to prohibit any publication in its sole discretion. ”On January 21, 1941, the Daily Worker was closed without charge, as well as a small edition of Wick (“ The Week ”), distributed only by subscription. The ban was lifted on September 7, 1942. A serious warning was given to the Daily Mirror newspaper, which printed a caricature capable, in the opinion of officials, of provoking defeatist sentiments. The reaction of the press was mixed. The Daily Herald said: “It is a hundred times more prudent to allow a newspaper to write nonsense than to undertake an action that could undermine public confidence in independence.” Thus, the British press did not suffer significant losses during the war. From 1937 to 1947, the number of national and provincial Sunday newspapers decreased slightly, but their circulation increased. The number of national daily editions remained unchanged, but their circulation increased. There were fewer provincial morning editions, but they began to come out in large print runs. The same tendency was manifested in the weekly press sphere, which indicates the dynamics of its concentration process. At the end of the 1940s and in the 1950s, the press in England was mainly divided among the leading press concerns. One of the most powerful was the Daily Mirror Newspapers (owned by Rotermire’s relative Cecil King). The main publications of the group were the Daily Mirror and Sandy Pictorial. In addition to newspapers and magazines in England, Cecil King had newspapers in Africa. He invested in the Australian press, as well as in commercial television in England and Australia. Since 1959, S. King belonged to the concern Amalgamated Press. Odams Press Group (A. Duncan) owned, in addition to the Daily Herald, many newspapers and magazines in England, Africa and Australia. "Roy Thomson Newspapers" (former "Camsley Newspapers") became the owner of the Sunday Times and the Sandy Schedule. Rothermir's Associated Newspapers, not only controlled the London newspapers (Daily Mail, Daily Sketch, Evening News, and Sandy Dispatch), the provincial press and foreign publications, but also invested in newsprint, iron ore deposits, in commercial television. Among the magnates of the newspaper and magazine business in the 50s in England, John Ellerman (“Illustrated Newspapers”), Harold Drayton (“United Newspapers”), Lord Cowdray (“Westminster Press Provincial Newspapers”), Harold Harmsworth (Harmsworth) were also distinguished. Ltd. ") [172].