Finest Hour

Abstract

Rogerson accurately predicted the important link between the press, propaganda and morale, arguing that the press would prove an essential vehicle for reassuring the public about successes in the field and reverses of fortune [79, p. 99]. It did so not only through persuasive headlines, articles and editorial comment, but also — notably in the tabloids — through the clever use of captioned photographs and cartoons (Chapter 7). Newspapers had traditionally enjoyed an important place in the relationship between subtle propaganda projection and their readers, strong messages conveyed through leading articles, usually to those already in sympathy with such views [79, pp. 86–7]. This extended to adequately catering for the social complexity of the public during the war years, a task willingly assumed by a diverse range of newspaper and magazine proprietors [135; 181, chs 4–6]. Despite this, with the war well underway by 1941, M-O confirmed the press’s declining influence on matters of trust because of ‘the saturation tendency’, confidence in newspapers diminished in part because of their political bias [57, pp. 20–8].