Wrangling with the Press

At the annual meeting of the Newspaper Society in May 1905, the ‘War News’ question had been considered ‘perhaps the most important clause in the Annual Report’. By autumn 1905, the authorities were ready to consult the Press informally about the draft Bill on the ‘Publication of Naval and Military Information’, and the chosen messenger was a prominent freelance journalist, Sydney Brooks. ¹⁰² With official support, between October and January he wrote similar letters to about 110 editors (some of whom edited more than one journal) of London and provincial newspapers and periodicals. He quoted from March speeches in the House of Lords about the dangers (despite the patriotism of journalists) of inadvertent disclosure of sensitive information, the problem which would be caused by waiting until war was imminent before introducing legislation, and the need therefore to address the problem in time of peace.