In message , Bruce
writes
frank wrote:
Governments forget working WITH the press is much easier than working
AGAINST them.

In the UK, Governments have no need to work with the press. Governments
have routinely silenced the press for decades using D-Notices.

D-notices no longer exist and were becoming counter productive. The
D-notice committee has not met in years but often "a Quiet word " was
had with the relevant editors.

The problem over the last decade has been that all the quiet word has
done is warn journalists of a story. A story that then often appears
outside the UK in print or more usually on the Internet where the UK has
no control.

SO they tend not to have a word with the editors lest the story comes up
on a web site in a country that is unfriendly ... eg the when the US
leaked the information on Prince Harry in Afghanestan

In the last year or so the system has been made even stricter, and I
think the D-Notice name has been replaced by something else.

I believe so. Mainly the greatly misused anti terror laws.

A recent application of the system was to prevent reporting of many
extensive and highly effective demonstrations on UK college campuses
against Israel's military operation in Gaza.

That was kept VERY quiet. I only found out as I had a meeting in a UK
University and was surprised to find protest posters al over the place.

I
tried over 20 new web sites including all the national daily newspapers
and several TV and radio stations - nothing. But as CNN reported, these
were by far the biggest student demonstrations in the UK since 1968.

I did not realise it was that big.

Presumably reports were censored to avoid upsetting Israel - the UK
having a Jewish foreign secretary may have something to do with this.

Then perhaps the FS should resign

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\/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/
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