The National Press during the First World War

Ownership and Circulation

Bibliographic Data

ID22694097
AuthorsJohn M Mcewen
Year1982
Volume17
Issue3
Pages459-486
Publication date1982-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/002200948201700304
OpenAlexW2008743709
LanguageEN
Citations received12

It is now a truism that the British press reached an unprecedented level of importance during the First World War, never to attain such heights again. Among political leaders of the time David Lloyd George appreciated this phenomenon earlier than most. This is easily illustrated. On the evening of 6 December 1916 he was invited by King George V to form a government in succession to the fallen Herbert Henry Asquith, his old chief, who had been prime minister since 1908 and head of a coalition war ministry since May 1915. From Buckingham Palace Lloyd George proceeded, not to a meeting with political advisers, but rather to dinner with two great newspaper proprietors at No. 20 Queen Anne's Gate in the City of Westminster. One of these men was his host, Sir George (later Lord) Riddell, owner of the mass circulation Sunday paper News of the World, while the other was Lord Burnham of the smaller but more prestigious Daily Telegraph. In such circumstances almost any other statesman would have expressed his regrets to Riddell and at once got on with the business of cabinet-making. The fact that Lloyd George chose not to do so is of great significance. More clearly than any of his contemporaries, possibly excepting Clemenceau, he recognized almost intuitively the role the press must play in the kind of total war that now engaged the nation. Further, it was most essential for his own future as prime minister that newspaper owners and editors should be given high priority, since he had no political party or machine of his own to call upon for steady support. The events of the next two years were to

Ancient history · Circulation (fluid dynamics) · Economic history · Political science · Australian History and Society · Engineering · History · Irish and British Studies · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact

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