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Appendix II.
NOTE ON THE CONSTITUTION AND MACHINERY OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE OF ADMIRALTY, WAR OFFICE, AND PRESS REPRE- SENTATIVES FOR THE INFORMAL CENSORSHIP OF NAVAL AND MILITARY INFORMATION,
Constitution.
1. THE following are the members of the Committee as at present constituted :--
Sir W. Graham Greene, Permanent Secretary, Admiralty.
Mr. R. H. Brade, Assistant Secretary, War Office.
Brigadier-General H. Wilson, Director of Military Operations.
Colonel G. M. W. Macdonogh, General Staff.
Sir George Toulmin, M.P., representing the Newspaper Society.
Mr. E. Parke, representing the Newspaper Proprietors Association.
Mr. R. H. H. Baird, representing the Irish Newspaper Society.
Mr. J. R. Scott, representing the Federation of Northern Newspaper Owners
Association.
Mr. D. Duncan, representing the Federation of Southern Newspaper Owners
Association.
Mr. Robbins, the Manager of the Press Association.
2. The Manager of the Press Association is responsible for communicating with the Press representatives on the Committee, and for notifying the Committee's decisions to the Press in the United Kingdom. The Assistant Secretary, War Office, is the channel of communication between the official members and the Press representatives.
Objects of the Committee.
3. The objects which the Committee have in view are (a) to issue timely warning to the Press against the publication of information in regard to specific naval or military operations of a secret nature, and (b) to prevent the publication of undesirable information, which may reach the editors of newspapers through private channels.
Procedure in Case (à).
4. When a case arises in which either the Admiralty or War Office desire to take the initiative in arranging for the suppression of any item of news, the Manager of the Press Association (Mr. Robbins) is communicated with, and the Committee assembled. Except in the very rare instances, in which circumstances do not admit of even an hour's delay, the action contemplated by the Department concerned is suspended until the full Committee has been summoned. In the exceptional instances referred to, the official members may consult with such of the Press representatives as may happen to be in London, who will generally be Mr. Robbins, and Mr. Parke of the Newspaper Proprietors Association.
The decision of the Joint Committee is communicated to the Press by Mr. Robbins. In the case of the London Press it is conveyed either by letter or by telephone; but in the case of the Provincial Press special arrangements are considered necessary. Owing to the frequency of changes in the editorial offices of provincial papers, and for other reasons, it is thought advisable-in order to avoid delay and to minimise the risk of violation of secrecy-to communicate with such editors through the Postmasters of the towns in which the offices are situated. The Postmaster-General has agreed to this arrangement, and has caused the issue of the necessary instructions giving effect to it. (Vide Appendix IV.) Certain newspapers generally speaking, of small importance--are published in towns or districts where a Postmaster is not maintained, and to the editors of these papers Mr. Robbins telegraphs direct.
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