ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the development of ideas about press accountability by examining the origins and nature of the three postwar Royal Commissions on the press in 1947–49, 1961–62 and 1974–77. It argues that the establishment of these bodies paralleled the growth of concerns among political parties, government and a wide range of groups in society about the proper role of the press in the twentieth century. The chapter looks at some general trends in the post-war press, and places the Commissions in the context of the proliferation of inquiries into matters directly or indirectly relating to the press. It charts the shifts and continuities in the reasons why the Commissions were established. The chapter shows how an examination of aspects of the Commissions' Reports charts how they were faced with an increasingly wider set of concerns about press accountability from an expanding range of groups within society.
