Press and the Public

In the late 1940s, a constant public and political pressure led a Royal Commission to conduct investigations into such alleged press practices as its monopolistic tendencies, its suspected bribery of film critics, its allowance of advertisers to dictate editorial policy, and its blacklisting of name figures that included Noel Coward, Haile Selassie, and Claire Luce. As a result of the Commission s findings, in 1953 the first British Press Council was formeda jury of respected journalists and laymen who ride herd on the press in Britain.This account by George Murray, one of the first chairmen of the Council and one of Britain s best-known editorial writers, reviews the Council s origins and tells the story of its battles in becoming a truly self-regulatory body. Because of the interest in creating a similar body in this country Mr. Murray s account will have exceptional relevance to events in this country today."