Casualties of war and peace

John Simpson quotes Humbert Wolfe’s mischievous lampoon but makes it clear that, in spite of the somewhat disobliging title of his book, he does not accept it as fair comment.

You cannot hope to bribe or twist,
Thank God! The British journalist.
But seeing what the man will do
Unbribed, there’s no occasion to.





John Simpson quotes Humbert Wolfe’s mischiev- ous lampoon but makes it clear that, in spite of the somewhat disobliging title of his book, he does not accept it as fair comment. Himself one of the most resourceful and determined of journalists, he believes that most of his colleagues were and are hard-working and conscientious, anxious to write honestly and with due balance about the subject that they are covering; that most editors see it as their role to help rather than to hinder this process; and that most proprietors refrain from bringing pressure on their employees in a way that might lead to distortion of the truth. Most, but not all: there were, and always have been, discreditable exceptions in all three categories. Inevitably it is these who attract the most attention: it is the threats to the truth, the unreliability of the sources. which emerge most forcibly from Simpson’s lively and intelligent analysis of British journalism over the last century.

The reporting of wars in which British forces were involved takes up two-fifths of this book — perhaps too much, given that the fighting itself lasted only a dozen years at most and that the rules of reporting were wholly different in wartime. For one thing, the government could legitimately impose a degree of censorship which would have been wholly unacceptable in peace.

For another, once British forces were involved in battle, most reporters felt an obligation to support them and not to publish material that would damage their reputation or weaken the patriotic fervour of the civilians.