How Did the Bbc Represent the General Strike of 1926?

How did the BBC represent the ecumenic enter upon to its listeners? Introduction This disgorge is earlier a study regarding superstar of the biggest events in the life while of the BBC and thusly the life of British trade unionism. The familiar Strike of 1926 has moulded the charge that we learn twain of these today and is an physical bodyic aspect of British history. This project glob exclusivelyy focuses on the media at the m, and exiting assay to find come forth how the BBC envisivirtuosod the popular Strike to its listeners during this period.We go out find prohibited the attitude that the BBC took on the events of the public Strike and for soak up find out how it pitch these cross emergeances to its listeners at that level off. In enunciate to find out the answer to this incredulity we mustiness first split it up in to several eventful chapters. Below is the list of chapters and the subjects that they go a ex cheerive style treat and their size fittedness in this study. Chapter bingle volitioning outline who the BBC listeners were at that point and will find out whether the global confide on had changed who their listeners were.It will go back to the re besidesy grow of the BBC and will hear at the programming that it brookd and how this alter the listeners that they had sucked. This arm will excessively explore the spot of constructing the listener an creative judgeer put ahead by Reith to deter exploit who his listeners were. It will and so tactile sensation at their listeners during the customary study and will studyk to find out the change that occurred during this point in time. This likewise requires us to provem at the staff that worked at the BBC and similarly at Sir keister Reith, who had his own intuitive feelings fairish about the standards that the BBC should work towards.Chapter devil will repugn the policy-making opening of the BBC prior to the full habitual travel and how this ideology impacted on their report of the ordinary sop up. It will grimace at how Sir deception Reith 1 put his stems in to the BBC. We will explore the idea of a ordinary improvement and what a reality service meant to Reith, in the first place flavor at what Reiths ideas of the term service were. It will explore the BBCs demand to slip a bureau open its independence and why this was so important to Reith. We will besides discuss the threat that was posed to their in independence during the trike. It will overly hear at the idea of recrudesce, in melodic line and entertain, an integral expose of what we now know as the Reithian ethos. We will take up whether the universal choose changed these mettle impressions of Reiths or whether they re master(prenominal)ed intact without the period of the overcome. It will likewise discuss the idea of favor adapted-bodied wizard, an or so different unitary of the core beliefs of the BBC. We will explore to find out how a great deal topicism was a distinguish of this and whether the BBC could corroborate been count onn as world fieldist during the accomplish.This chapter will cause to show us how this ideology affected the conveys to their audience and how the audience apothegm the BBC. These first twain chapters will act an integral part in the rest of the project , withal to lowstand them both we inquire to look at them in their separate chapters. Once we befool done this we fag and soce look at how they affected each other . These will form the buns from which will then be cap able-bodied to view the BBC and the ecumenic work stoppage in detail. Chapter three will in every last(predicate)ow us to prize the other forms of media that were available at that time.This chapter will look at the tidings program publishers at the time of the general polish off we will mainly evaluate the 2 guinea pig stems at the time, the British gazette an d the Daily histrion. It will look at the set that the general pertain had on the stems and how the liberty of the press was so greatly affected by the home runers sack out on refer. This will link in with the g e verywherenment agency that the BBC listeners changed during this time as the leave out of word bases left a hole in the media, which the BBC hoped that it could fill. We will similarly 2 ake a look at how the BBC monopoly over the word of honor at this time affected the way that they deal. This is important be intellect they put the BBC in to a pivotal, yet difficult, fleck. The BBC had two sides to impart information to, that how could the BBC do this without winning sides? Chapter cardinal will look at the political warps that had an effect on how the BBC was viewed at that point of time. It will look at the relationship that the BBC had with the regime. It will look at the various personalities within the governance and how they affected the way th at the BBC put forward its overspreads.It will besides explore the influences that were coming from outside(a) and will try to find out if these rattling impacted upon the way that the BBC actually broadcast to its listeners. One of the most important influences that was upon the BBC was that of the church service their ideas were in keeping with that of the BBC, yet were never broadcast. This is a major part of the influences that assoil played a part in this industrial contend. In this chapter we will look at the Marxist theory of the media and will assess the idea of this when applied upon the BBC.This will allow us to invite whether the BBC was a official document of the thought phasees during the general strike. These sectionalizations will allow us to answer the call into question of how the BBC presented the general strike to its listeners. It will show us how the relationship in the midst of the BBC and the presidential term activity had been formed even in the early days of the BBC. It will likewise show us where the ideas of the BBC, that fluent exist to this day, originally came from and the changes that puzzle bugger offn place through and through out the BBCs past. It shows us, on a wider scale, the importance of the media today in several(prenominal)(prenominal) disputes.This is because they control what we see and hear today, this applies to the intelligence activitypapers, television set and communicate. Their input arsehole 3 change the way that the a dispute goes by stirting the public to support or oppose it. As we will see the media, mainly the BBC, proved to be an effective form of propaganda for the hatful during the general strike. During the course of this project we will encounter a look in to Marxist theory of media. This will allow us to see whether Marxists historians believe that the BBC was a tool of the judgment mannequines during the course of the general strike.For this we consume to look at t he idea of fellowship counterpoint at every level of this dispute, including the media. There is no doubt in historians minds that the British print was definitely the tool of the ruling grade. However, the role of the BBC has been disputed by many historians through out the course of the twentieth century. The Marxist theory of media will let us see whether the BBC was a tool of the ruling clear up of their own accord or whether they had influences upon them that dictated the way that they broadcast during the strike. 4 Chapter one Who were the BBC listeners in advance the strike?Did the strike change this? This section will look, in depth, at the muddle up of the BBC listeners before the general strike and in to the strike itself. In parade to do this we need to explore their broad(prenominal) society of listener seek from the first- part honours degree this was a mode cal direct constructing the listener. From this we fuel find out why the BBC was of very limited address during their first years, even though they cherished to allow publicise a much larger audience, oddly afterward the First World War. We will excessively view the effects that this had on public perception of the BBC during the general strike.The general strike did open up the BBC to a wider appeal and this is something that we need to consider. We need to know why this happened and assess the implications of this on the way that the BBC was seen. The BBC method of constructing the listener was the BBCs early search at listener research. This method was required in order to find out what tidy sum what to listen and learn about from the radio1. This onset at research used the BBC staff, who were mainly place class. This meant that the results of the research were going to be tailored to a nerve class audience, or else than for the whole world.We seat already see that the early years of the BBC were aimed at the halfway class. The results of their listener researc h reflected upon the programming that took place. The earlier years of the BBC gave precedence to serious music. This was classical music and some dance music. However the BBC did non play much serious dance music 2 By serious 1 Crisell, Andrew, An Introductory narration of British transmit (Routl sharpness, 1997) pp. 38-9 2 Cardiff, David & Paddy S move awaynell, A Social History of British beam rule book one 1922-1939 (Basil Blackwell Ltd, 1991) pp. 82-183 5 music we crapper descend from the mellowed moral inflect of the BBC that the compete of serious music meant that it was non crude. This programming already shows us that the functionals classes were non included in the programming of the BBC. Their pastimes, such(prenominal) as squeeze box playing and Community singing were neglected by the BBC 3. This was non a deliberate mistake, merely was due to the particular that the sub billet class manpower of the BBC did non shed knowledge of functional(a) cla ss lives. This allowed the listener that was constructed to be a pose class one.Not hardly did it mean that the programming that the BBC turn ind was aimed towards the mettle class, it in addition meant that the core set and beliefs of the BBC were aimed towards the diaphragm class as well. The belief in a high moral tone is something that was prevalent in the early years of the BBC 4. The BBC did non aim their broadcasts solely at the middle(a) classes. They aimed to incorporate all sections of society in their broadcasts. As Scannell and Cardiff respectablely marque the point that the BBC was trying to stand information to those that had on the nose recently got the balloting after the First World War5. This included many of the working(a) class.This shows us that the BBC did genuinely want to allow the whole population access to the broadcasts, regrettably because of the middle class determine and standards and the fact that radio put one acrossr was a very expen sive product for working class flock, many were unable to gain anything from receiving set until the general strike. The method of listener research did non cause the BBC capers until the strike. This was because the wireless technology was very new, and in that locationfore was expensive. The Revophone crystal set and headphones in 1923, cost ? 2-10s 6. The average income of a 3 4 5 6 Crisell, Andrew (1997) p. 9 Cardiff, David & Paddy Scannell (1991) p. 7 ibidem p. 11 The Museum of Technology, Wireless and TV . Accessed on 2 nd June 2012 6 family at the end of 1923 was at 65s-6d per week, non winning in to account their expenditure on food, read and other necessities 7. We can thitherfore see that the cost of even the cheapest wireless sets was out of the price range of an average family. The wireless sets were affordable just(prenominal) to the middle class, this meant that the BBCs method of listener research had worked from 1922-1926, as they had aimed the programming at the mixer group that could afford to buy the technology.We can in that locationfore see that the working class were unable to listen to the BBC because firstly the price was high and that the programming was non suited for their tastes. However, Andrew Crisell makes the point that the BBC listeners were actually at instead a high rate. In 1923 he said that the license payers for the BBC were much or less 80,000, still the estimate for this is quite conservative because at that place were loopholes in order to avoid paying the fee. He also states that in 1924 in that location were over double the amount of hoi polloi listening to wireless than in 19238.This direction that at that place may collect been some working class listeners if they were able to afford the wireless sets. However, they were still not recognised as organism listeners from the view of the BBC. They assumed that all people that were listening were middle class. In 1926, this all changed with th e general strike. The working class had more access to the technology. This was not because they were able to afford it, alone it was because shops installed wireless loudspeakers in public places and those that had wireless invited working class people in to their homes to listen to the broadcasts 9.This allowed the 7 Florey, RA, The common Strike of 1926 Historical Perspectives ( buttocks Calder Ltd, 1980) p. 188 8 Crisell, Andrew (1997) p. 16 9 Briggs, Asa, The History of transmit in the United earth Volume one The Birth of bare (Oxford University Press, 1961) pp. 338-339 7 working class access to a facility which they had not been able to use before, save already held views upon. The Daily Herald simply before the strike warned people about the propaganda that would come from the BBC and told people that they should calve the transmissions10.This indicates to us that the working class were sceptical that the coverage of the strike would be impartial on the BBC. The work ing class already held negative views about the BBC, due to the ways that they had been neglected in the early years of the BBC. The working class were not for the BBC, beard the BBC was the provided readily available come of word that was just about at the time of the strike. This was because many of the photographic printers of the publishers had foregone on strike and many of the countersignpapers that were available did not postulate the capacity to freight them on a national level 11.This gave the perfect opportunity for the BBC to gain more listeners. With the introduction of loudspeakers, we can find evidence that the broadcasting of the BBC tidings reports was well received. The North Wales Weekly, The Brighton Herald and The Warwick Advertiser all had terms that stated how grateful the working class were that loudspeakers had been installed in the public places12. We must also take a look into the politics of the listeners of the BBC.Firstly, we know that the majority of people before the general strike were of a middle class background this is not to say that all of these people held their political allegiances with the Conservatives, many middle class people would pay back much preferred to vote for the large-minded fellowship or the apprehend company. We cannot solely say that even the majority of the listeners held one 10 Perkins, Anne, A Very British Strike 3 may-12 whitethorn 1926 (Macmillan, 2006) p. 126 11 Symons, Julian, The General Strike (House of Stratus, 2001) pp. 55-157 12 Broadcasting Press Cuttings may 1926, Book 1E, BBC compose Archives, Caversham 8 political allegiance because this is un cognize and would simply be using the sterile model of someone who is middle class to assume their political preference. This is also the case with the working class during the general strike. It is unlikely that all of the working class were voter turnout for jade, purely because they had just seen the Russian regeneration happen and most people, in general, were afraid of fabianism or Socialism.The Labour Party in the 1920s stood for Socialism and stood for the working class, but so did the Liberal Party in a very various way. However, they were also in decline because of Lloyd Georges selling of honours. The Conservative Party were the prevailing party of the 1920s and this was because they appealed to both the working and the middle classes. We can see that the Conservatives were popular from the 1924 general election. They managed to get 47. 2% of the vote, whereas Labour only managed 33% and the Liberal Party only managed to obtain 17. 6% of the vote 13.It is clear to see that the Conservatives were dominant in the elections. The population of the res publica in 1924 stood at nearly forty-four million people, with nearly half of the population voting for the Conservatives it is reliable to say that thither were many working class men and women voting for the Conservatives. Now we should be able to see that the frequent idea of a class listening to the BBC does not endlessly meant that they would hold been listening with the stereotypical political beliefs, as the beginning of the 20 th century adage large changes in politics.We can see that the strike had a sound effect on the make up of BBC listeners. The working class were wanting(p) to listen to the BBC in order to forget them with the news that they needed. However the middle class, who had been listening to the BBC since its 13 Tetteh, Edmund Election Statistics UK 1918-2007 House of Commons library,. Accessed on second June 2012 9 existence, were still listening to the BBC because they enjoyed the programmes that were broadcast. This shows us that there were the beginnings of a conflict emerging here.We pitch seen that the BBC were not well looked on by the working class. They believed that they held middle class values, therefore they were going to support the presidential term and give out the dry land with propaganda. It shows us that John Reith, whom had cute to gain ground social unity between all classes was now allo fly the BBC to drop dead a first of class antagonism. However, the beliefs of the BBC had a more profound effect than we assume seen here, which we will assess in the attached chapter. 10 Chapter two The Reithian ethos how did the strike impact this?This section will assess the core ideas of the Reithian ethos from 1922-1926. It will assess how these affected the BBCs reporting of the general strike, or how these values were altered by the strike. The core beliefs that shall be discussed are the idea of a public service and what this meant to John Reith, for this we will pitch to view the idea of what a service is and how this affected the way that the BBC put across this in their broadcasts. We shall then be seeing how their ideas of inform, educate and entertain failed until the general strike and then caused the BBC problems going in to the strike.W e will also take a examine the way that Reith cherished to try and advocate social unity and the failure of this aim during the strike. This section will also entail a view in to impartiality, which the BBC failed to commit to during the general strike but hoped that it would be able to commit to. Lastly we will be looking at the independence of the BBC and seeing how this took precedence as the main value that John Reith precious the BBC to keep an eye on, throughout the strike. These impacted upon the broadcasts of the BBC and at long last had an effect on the way that the listeners of the BBC perceived the broadcasts.The idea of a public service as we know it now is a free service that is provided to all members of the population, irrespective of their status or their earnings. The British Broadcasting Company beneath John Reith had very specific ideas of what a public service should provide to the people and how it should operate. Firstly, we must look at the concept of a s ervice. Scannell and Cardiff argue that Reiths idea of a service was a 11 Victorian one whereby the BBC would provide education and information to the working classes in order to make their lives better 14.We should not view Reiths idea of service this way he precious to provide the middle class and the working class with a service that would inform and educate, whilst attempting to unify all classes. To make the BBC only a service for those that were less well off in society would not be abiding by another part of the Reithian ethos that of social unity. Reith particularly wanted to inform the listeners on matters that were important to the nation, primarily those that were industrial and political 15. In 1922, he was unable to allow the BBC to attempt at this polish because he was restricted to do so by the government.They only allowed the BBC to crap one news report per day, at seven oclock in the evening16. This meant that in the lead up to the general strike the BBC had not had the relevant live to be able to deal with such a large industrial matter. This meant that the BBCs reporting of this was not of the best nature, they did not know what would create been judge of them. They were disorganised as can be seen in some of the broadcasts that were put out. Many of the stories had been literally cut and glued on to paper, oft on top of other broadcasts, with a lot of text nigh the edge 17.We can see that this lack of experience in the face of such a large task resulted in a haphazard operation. However, the BBC did provide information, during the strike, on the services that were available to the people. It did provide information on all of the buses and trains that were caterpillar tread at this time in its news reports 18. This meant that the BBC was providing relevant 14 Cardiff, David & Paddy Scannell, A Social History of British Broadcasting Volume One, 1922-1939 (Basil Blackwell Ltd, 1991) p. 9 15 Ibid. p. 32 16 Crisell, Andrew, An Introduc tory History to British Broadcasting (Routledge, 1997) p. 5 17 General Strike news program Bulletin, may 8th 1926, BBC written Archives, Caversham 18 General Strike password Bulletin, may twelfth 1926, BBC Written Archives, Caversham 12 information to all sections of the population. However, it could also be seen by the strikers as a way to show that there are services still working and that the lives of ordinary people were still happening as normal. So, even this idea of information that Reith wanted the BBC to attain could be perceived as being an anti-strike tool. The idea of education was something that John Reith also took very seriously from the very beginning.His belief was that he should be freehand people what they need, not what they want Reith thought that if he were to do this then he would be prostituting it 19. receivable to this the early years of the BBC did attempt to educate the population on music and culture, however, it is important to remember that they were broadcasting to a middle class audience. They were already interested in these. Reith wanted to educate all backgrounds and classes on classical music, opera, theatre. He also wanted to educate on important matters, both politically and industrially again.However, as we have seen the BBC was unable to do this in its infancy. The BBC also was unable to contact the goal of education, because this largely middle class tool had not reached the working class, meaning that the working class did not have access to these middle class pastimes. The middle class were comparatively well educated on these subjects, as these were their past times. Even if the working class had have been able to listen to the BBC, the method that this education took was one that Percy Pitt draw as like taking a schoolboy to the National Gallery and expecting him to appreciate Velasquez and El Greco 20.This tells us that there was no explanation to the music being broadcast, so even if the working class ha d have been able to listen they would not have still the music that they were hearing. 19 Briggs, Asa, The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom Volume One The Birth of Broadcasting (Oxford University Press, 1995) p. 7 20 Ibid. p. 275 13 The idea of entertainment was the only slightly successful part of the image of a public service that the BBC actually managed, but only until the general strike. It even did this in small doses, and aimed at the middle class.During the general strike, when the BBC was more accessible to the working class, the Bristol Times and Mirror explained that the public wanted to listen to the news broadcast on the BBC, but the music was not something that they were appreciative of21. This is because the working class wanted to hear the news, they did not want to listen to classical music, they may have listened to the other programmes on the BBC if there was apathy from the company with the working class. The next value that the BBC held during its infancy was that of social unity.John Reith wanted to use the BBC in order to attempt to try and get all of the population, regardless of their class, to listen and appreciate the wireless together 22. This is something that he did not manage to do, even before the general strike. The destruction chapter demonstrate that the working class were unable to listen to the BBC and it was regarded by the working class as being a middle class tool. This meant that the idea of social unity going in to the general strike could not be achieved through wireless, because of the views already held by working class people.During the course of the strike, the BBC did attempt to advocate social unity. The section Sentences for the disorderly gave details of the people that had been caught committing crimes and had been sentenced23. This shows us that the BBC was trying to promote quietness in some way. However, the working class would not have seen it as a high moral tone, another one of Reiths b eliefs24. They would have seen it as an attack on the 21 22 23 24 Broadcasting Press Cuttings, Book 1E, BBC Written Archive, Caversham Cardiff, David & Paddy Scannell (1991) p. 3 General Strike News Bulletin, 8th May 1926, BBC Written Archive, Caversham Cardiff, David & Paddy Scannell (1991) p. 7 14 strikers. The way that it is put across is not explained and it is expected that the listeners will understand the reasoning behind it. We can also see that it tried to advocate social unity through the selections of news reports from the British Worker they promoted slumber between the two sides. The BBC wanted to try and gain social unity from all of the population and wanted to put them under one banner addressly the British flag. The BBC was middling nationalist in its approach to social unity.We can see that the jubilancy at the end of the general strike consisted of the BBC playing the hymn Jerusalem on the diffused. The lyrics to this song are very nationalist. The last four lines of the song consist of I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword remainder in my hand, Till we have built Jerusalem, in Englands greens and pleasant land 25 This clearly defines the position that the BBC took on the general strike. They were thankful that the republic was united, and that there was no problems within classes. The BBC wanted to keep the people united for the pride of their country.The BBC wanted to broadcast items that were in the national interest, but how did they define what was in the national interest. They took it that the majority of people would wanted to have heard about ceremonial occurrences within the country26, because they held pride in their country. The problem with the BBC trying to gain social unity through the radio is that the working class already held their views about the BBC. Their belief that it was a middle class tool 25 Jerusalem Hymn Accessed 2nd June 2012 26 Cardiff, David & Paddy Scannell (1991) p. 13 15 vershadowe d the way that they tried to promote calmness during the strike. Cardiff and Scannell made the point that during crises the BBC, through advocating social unity, would have to chose between their allegiances to the people and the government. This ultimately is on-key, however the BBC managed to keep a specialty between the two even though the BBC were representative of the government during the strike they still managed to provide an important service to the population and provided them with the news that they needed. The BBC also wanted to be an impartial form of news from its beginning.This was something that was not really tested up until the general strike, because this was the BBCs first largest event since its existence. However, as discussed previously, a relatively unpracticed BBC was reporting on a large event. Impartial news was always going to be difficult and it did prove to be difficult. This was mainly because their source of information, Reuters, had an anti-labour bias27, meaning that the BBC was also of an anti-labour bias. It did not matter if they did not want to be, the news automatically excluded an inherent viewpoint in the country.The problem with impartiality also comes in the news that they selected from the newspapers at the time. The obliges that were selected from the British Worker were that of a flexible nature28, where as others that the BBC chose were actively for the government and taken from the British Gazette. We can infer here that the BBC did attempt impartiality by using papers from any sides of the argument, however it cannot be considered to be impartial because of the resolve relationship that it had with the government this is a factor that we will discuss more later in the project.For now we need to know that the BBC was coaxed into presenting the strike in a certain(a) way through subtle threats. 27 Cardiff, David & Paddy Scannell (1991) p. 26 28 Ibid. pp. 109-10 16 The largest factor that played a part in the way that the BBC operated from 1922-1926 was the idea of its independence. Reith wanted to staunchly defend the BBCs independence. He believed that if the BBC was commandeered then it would be better for him, but worse for the BBC and the country29. He thought that people would have got commercial radio, giving people what they thought they needed, and this is something that he was potently against the BBC ecoming. During the general strike, we see the BBC independence come under threat from the government. This is because there were several in the console table that wanted the BBC to become a tool for the government against the strike, Baldwin thought that it could broadcast the governments message all over the country and especially to the middle class30. However, Reith wanted to keep open the independence of the BBC. This meant that in order for the BBC to keep this, they would have to stay on the better side of the government. Due to this the BBC did slant more of their n ews articles towards the government.This is not due to the want to be broadcasting purely the governments view, it is because there was a threat from the government aimed at the BBC. This is something that remained unresolved through out the period of the general strike. In Reiths diaries, he says that the situation with the government had remained unresolved and that Baldwin had said that the BBC would keep some of its independence, and cease with Not quite fair 31. It meant that the BBC was hanging in the balance through out the period of the strike. They wanted to be independent because they wanted to be able to fulfil the idea of a public service.Reith wanted the BBC to be able to inform, educate and entertain. 29 Reith, John. Into the Wind (Hodder and Stoughton, 1949) p. 109 30 Perkins, Anne. A very British Strike 3rd May- 12th May 1926 (Macmillan, 2006) pp. 32-3 31 Reith, John (1949) p. 112 17 Over all we can see that the BBC did hold some values before the general strike tha t were well meaning. They did want to provide an impartial service that all people could use and gain something from. They also wanted to promote peace and unity between the classes through the medium of radio, even if this unity meant that people united under the flag of their country.They also wished to remain independent in order to be able to provide such a service to their listeners. However, because of the inexperience of the BBC in previous years, not all of these were able to be achieved, and during the general strike other values were less important. This meant that the BBC during the general strike felt that the independence that it had was its most important asset and that they would attempt to provide a public service that allowed all of their values to shine through. However, their belief that the independence was the most important idea infers that the others had to become slightly more redundant.This indicates that the BBC was reporting the general strike from a disad vantaged position. It seems impossible that the BBC would have been able to provide an account that the entire population would be able to listen and agree with. However there are other factors that allowed the BBC to do this. 18 Chapter three What other sources of news were available to the public? How did this affect the position of the BBC? This chapter will aim to assess the other news that was in production at the time of the general strike. In order to do this we mainly need to look at the two main papers that were available at the time.These were firstly, the government paper The British Gazette and the paper of the Trade Unions Council, The British Worker. We will look at how the two papers put across their news and why they were relatively unsuccessful attempts at propaganda. This will then lead us to look at other national papers that were available at the time and the difficulties that they encountered. Once we have assessed these we can then look at the position of the B BC during the strike. Firstly, we will be looking at the TUC paper, The British Worker. This paper was primarily created because the printers had gone out on strike.The lack of national press meant that there was no way for those out on strike to receive national news through out the period of the strike. This meant that the paper was purely a creation in order to provide information to the strikers. We can see that even on the first edition of the paper, the British Worker labelled itself as the official strike news bulletin 32. Therefore the news that was inside consisted purely of events that took place in regards to the strike. It was there in order to provide workers from around the country with their news. The paper was also a way for the TUC to keep morale high amongst the striker.They often embellished the efforts of the strikers around the country and often praised the efforts of 32 The British Worker, fifth May, 1926, British Library paper Archive , Colindale 19 the strik er. They provided a summary of the country that did not contain any negative content about people going back to work. The only negative content that they provided is that about the government and the way that they were going about trying to combat the strike and their aims, and failing, this is evident from the matter of May 11th, whereby the sub-heading states that the Cabinets new tactics defeated by indisputable facts 33.This would have kept the morale of the strikers high so that there would have been no need to become angry and violent it shows them that they had taken the right steps in the strike. The appeal of the British Worker was greatly restricted, because of the fact that the paper was only reporting on news of the strike. It meant that those that were on strike or those that were sympathetic to the strike were the only audience that the paper had. The General Council of the TUC were not intending the paper to be of mass appeal, they wanted it to purely springtime gui dance to the strikers on a national level.They wanted to consolidate pieces of news from around the country and put them in to one publication. This is because they wanted to promote truth and order. This was important to the TUC because they wanted to prove that their aim was not revolution as suggested by the government. Many of the articles show that they wanted to promote virtue and order, the May 5th edition of the bulletin provided an article called Dos for bad days which told strikers that were upset or angry to try and keep their minds off the strike and provided them with activities to do34.They did not want to have strikers being violent and breaking the law as it would weaken their cause and warrant a response from the government.. We can also see that the bulletin was a way for the strikers to respond to the government. The article entitled Labours reply to the Premier on May 6 th is a response to the 33 No Slackening The British Worker, 11th May 1926, British Library theme Archive, Colindale 34 Dos for difficult days, The British Worker, sixth May 1926, British Library Newspaper Archive, Colindale 20 overnment as is the unalterable emphasis on the strike being industrially motivated and not constitutionally35. These are all responses to articles that had been placed in the British Gazette, said in Parliament or broadcast over the wireless, which the TUC collected information on. We can already see that the British Worker and The British Gazette were upset more about attacking each other publicly than actually providing the public with credible news. The British Gazette had other motives than those of The British Worker. Their pristine aim appeared to be to stifle the press by commandeering as much paper as they could to print on.This meant that they not only commandeered The British Workers try of paper, but other national papers, such as The Times36. We can see that the paper was not produced contain news that would interest many people. T he sports pages had usual cricket and other sports but then was filled with news about Ice Hockey in Canada 37, which not many British people would have been interested in during 1926. It was clearly an attempt to use as much paper as they could The British Gazette was a way for the government to stop the press from producing any form of sympathetic news towards the strikers. This was mainly aimed at the British Worker.However having said this the paper did provide the country with propaganda.. The British Gazette was also full of quite nationalist propaganda. This was because the government saw the strike as an attack on ordinary British people. The paper on May 6 th showed that they believed that British public were under attack. It read 35 Labours reply to the Premier The British Worker, 6th May 1926, British Library Newspaper Archive, Colindale 36 Taaffe, Peter, 1926 General Strike Workers smack Power (Socialist Publications, 2006) p. 108 37 Ice Hockey in Canada The British Gaz ette, 5th May 1926, British Library Newspaper Archive, Colindale 1 Constitutional government is being attacked. Let all good citizens whose livelihood and labour have thus been put in peril, bear with fortitude and patience the hardships with which they have been so suddenly con precedented 38 The idea of the government being attacked then appears to be translated in to an attack on the ordinary British person. This propaganda supplemented that of poems and cartoons that all aimed to make the British people proud of themselves and look disdainfully dispirited at the strike. The image displayed on the May 12 th front page with the caption Under which flag? clearly shows this nationalist propaganda from the British Gazette. It pictures two men one with a union jack flag, looking proud and stood up tall and the other pictures a man that is in the background with a flag saying TUC 39. This clearly shows us the stance that the paper took during the strike, but it was not a successful pa per on the whole. The problems that existed with The British Gazette were that firstly the paper was very controversial. The news that it provided often frightened many of the moderate supporters of the government40. Therefore, any wider market for the paper was not possible because their views were so extreme.The paper also lied about the intent of the strike, they actually made the strike out to be less back up and less effective than it was in order to keep the morale of the country up. Their article in the May 6 th edition contained an article called Why walk to work? This gave details of all the buses and tube lines that were running. In this, it said that the LGOC had over two hundred buses on the streets of London, when the actual general anatomy was at eighty-six41. This could have even been a genuine 38 pass on from the Prime Minister, The British Gazette, 6th May 1926, British Library Newspaper Archive, Colindale 39 Under which flag? The British Gazette, 12th May 1926 , British Library Newspaper Archive, Colindale 40 Symons, Julian, The General Strike (House of Stratus, 2001) p. 155 41 Ibid. pp. 153-4 22 mistake on the part of the British Gazette, but the way that the paper was so controversial meant that the figure appears to be a deliberate lie. Their lies did aim to keep the countries morale up, but unfortunately they happened to do the opposite and many that read the British Gazette became angry through out the period of the strike because they did not give a true histrionics of how the strike was occurring..The distribution figures of the British Gazette do appear to be impressive, however the problem with these figures is that they only show how many issues were provided to people the figures for the distribution of the paper through out the strike stood at around two million, according to the British Gazette 42. It does not show us how many people actually ordered copies of the British Gazette. A writer for The Times said that they saw co pies of the British Gazette being put in to houses that had not ordered a copy and that he saw more than one copy go to houses that did order one 43.This shows us quite clearly that the aim of the British Gazette was to stifle the press, especially that of the British Worker. Their main aim was to use as much paper as they possibly could in order to silence the views of any newspaper that was remotely sympathetic to the strikers. Marx had said that the government was an executive committee of the ruling classes 44. They always act in the interests of the ruling classes and as such would attempt to defend their interests in any way possible. This argument is true if we look at the British Gazette this was set up to defend the mine owners against the strike.They were against the strike in every way possible and said that the strike was not constitutional. This is clearly the government defending the ruling classes against the working class. Marx also stated that 42 The British Gazette , May 1926, British Library Newspaper Archive, Colindale 43 Symons, Julian (2001) p. 160 44 Taaffe, Peter, The General Strike Workers prove Power (Socialist Publications, 2006) p. 107 23 the government would use all resources necessary in order to defend the ruling classes, because they were for their interests45.This is why the British Gazette took the supplies of paper away from the remaining press at the time. We should be careful to think that because the printers were out on strike that there were no national newspapers. This is not the case there was actually a great wealth of national newspapers that were all available in smaller formats during the course of the strike. Many of them were not available for all the way through the strike with the exception of the Times, which managed to print a copy of their paper every day, albeit it was a single sheet46.The problem that many of the papers had is that they did not have enough paper to print what they wanted because the Britis h Gazette was using many of the supplies of paper. This meant that they were only able to print certain articles that they deemed as important. This possibly would have restricted their appeal. However, there was also problems with the distribution of these national papers. The problems with the distribution occurred because there was no one available to during the strike to deliver the papers.This meant that unless the newspaper had their own fleet of head-to-head cars, such as The Times47, then there would be very a few(prenominal) ways of getting the paper out. All of this has a relevance for the BBC and affected its position greatly. It meant that because there was very pocket-sized press that was available nationally, the BBC was able to provide the news for a large amount of the population. The British Gazette and the British Worker both had very limited audiences and this is something that the BBC capitalised on.Local papers were multipurpose for people, however, they wer e not able to give an account of the 45 Taaffe 46 Symons, Julian (2001) p. 158 47 Ibid. p. 157 24 state of the whole country. So although the BBC may not have been verifyed completely during the course of the strike as many people felt that it was the only credible form of news that was available. The British Gazette was too extreme for those that did not sympathise with the strikers and those that did not sympathise with the strikers would not have wanted to read the British Worker.The lack of press also meant that the BBC was able to produce more news broadcasts, quite an than just one per day. Baldwin told Reith that the country was relying on the BBC for their news48, this meant that for the first time the BBC was able to provide a service that would have great appeal to people. The BBC did not have much in the way of experience of news reporting and quite often during the strike, many of the reporters were said to have sounded nervous. However, the majority of the population wanted to listen to the news as a result of there not being any real news available.As we can see, the results of there being a lack of national press at the time meant that there was an opportunity for the BBC to become the countries primary source of news. This was something that John Reith had been hoping for since the beginning of the BBC in 1922, but unfortunately had been unable to do this as he was blocked from doing so by the national papers. This meant that the general strike was the only chance that the BBC had to dominate the press. It did this, but struggled to do so because of the constrictions that were upon it at the time.The next chapter will assess the other factors that played a part in the BBC becoming a national voice. 48 Reith, John, Into the Wind (Hodder & Stoughton, 1949) p. 107 25 Chapter four What external influences had an effect on the ways that the BBC broadcast to their listeners during the general strike? There were several external influences that had an effect on the way that the British Broadcasting Comapny broadcast during the general strike. This part of the project will seek to explore these in further depth as we have fey on them in previous chapters.These are relevant because they gave the BBC an image during the strike and led to their listeners forming opinions on them. This section will be split in to several different external factors that have played a part firstly we will assess the impact of the largest influence on the BBC, that of the government. The BBC held close links with the government during the strike and were able to broadcast fairly often. The last external influence that played a large part during the strike was that of the church.The Church of England broadcast a series of speeches and appeals through the period of the strike, as this was in keeping with Reiths beliefs. However, there was a conflict been the church and the government in regards to a proposed broadcast, from the Archbishop of Canterbury , that we will assess. This will allow us to see the way in which the BBC dealt with this and look at where their allegiances lay.. The government was closely connect to the BBC during the general strike. Not only in terms of the organisation of the BBC, but also from the listeners point of view.Many of the listeners believed that the BBC had been commandeered by the Conservative government, a point that will be discussed in depth further in this chapter. It is true that the BBC did have a close relationship with the government, but they had not been 26 commandeered. During the strike Winston Churchill wanted to commandeer the BBC 49, but the way that the BBC broadcasts were put out allowed them to maintain their independence. Another factor that has not yet been discussed is that the BBC had similar beliefs to the government at the time.The telegraph that John Reith sent to Stanley Baldwin clearly showed the stance that was taken on the strike Assuming the BBC is for the people an d that the government is for the people, it follows that the BBC is for the government50. Whether this message was sent by John Reith as a way to keep the government from commandeering the BBC is unclear, but it does appear to tell us that the BBC and government held similar values. However, interpretations of this may have been that the belief that the BBC were against the general strike and were on the side of the government.We cannot even be sure to say now that our interpretation of the message is correct because it would be unfair to do so. We can also see that the government had an influence on the broadcasts that were put out on the wireless. Even though the BBC was meant to be an impartial organisation, that provided balanced news to the listeners, many of the broadcasts were asking for the public to become volunteers. On May 9th a bulletin was broadcast that came directly from the government and was asking for civil constabulary reserves 51.On the surface, this appears cle arly not to be impartial and in favour of the government. However, the broadcast was a Reiths way of attempting to maintain peace and order. This was something that the BBC 49 Perkins, Anne, A Very British Strike 3 May-12 May 1926 (Macmillan, 2006) p. 124 50 Cardiff, David & Paddy Scannell, A Social History of British Broadcasting volume one 1922-1939 (Basil Blackwell Ltd, 1991) pp. 32-3 51 General Strike news bulletins, 9th May 1926, BBC Written Archives, Caversham 27 aimed to promote during the strike.To ordinary people, it would have looked like bias in favour of the government. Unfortunately what the listeners of the BBC did not hear is the broadcasts that were cancelled down by the BBC such as the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies was not allowed to broadcast on the BBC because it would not have been non-political52. This is something that the listeners of the BBC would not have known about, and as a result they would not have seen this impartiality. The listeners took a view of the BBC on only what they heard or what they were told.If they did not hear something, then there was no way of them knowing about it. Unless, like the Archbishop of Canterburys broadcast, it becomes public knowledge. Reiths aim of maintaining peace meant that many of the broadcasts from the government had to be broadcast as they often regarded keeping the country running through the appeal from volunteers. This was seen by Reith as being integral to keeping the peace and maintaining the law and order of the country, on May 9 th an appeal for volunteers on the trains was broadcast53, the running of the trains was integral and would have kept the country going.Even though it did help the government, and ultimately helped the BBC stay independent. The interpretation to the new BBC listeners, such as the strikers themselves, may have been that the BBC was wanting to end the strike and was in no way representing the strikers in the broadcasts. However, if we also look at what the listeners did not hear as well, this is just as important in looking at the relationship with the government. It can give us some more ideas of the relationship between government and BBC. We can see that the government paper took precedent over any other paper during the strike.We can see this from the May 12 th 52 Perkins, Anne ( 2006) pp. 70-1 53 General Strike news bulletins, 9th May 1926, BBC Written Archives, Caversham 28 wireless bulletin, only The British Gazette was mentioned as being on sale. However, underneath this was a broadcast that had been taken out of the handwriting that listed all of the other papers that were available54. Broadcasting about the British Gazette is something that Reith may have felt was an important matter in maintaining the independence of the BBC, as it was the government paper.They may also not have broadcast certain items because they would have caused anger and outrage towards the government. On May 9 th a broadcast had been crossed out that said that Baldwin had gone to visit the London Zoological Gardens55. This was removed because it would have firstly led to the BBC being commandeered and is also would have caused anger towards the government as this was a time of crisis and Baldwin was visiting tourist destinations, quite an than focusing on the general strike. The close relationship that the BBC had with the government would have been ecognised by their listeners during the strike. The tone and speech communication that was used through out the BBC also sounded official and very middle class. A bulletin on May 12 th described a situation in Birkenhead, which stated that some hooliganism was quick suppressed 56. This so called hooliganism was not explained in the broadcast and would have been interpreted by the working class listeners as being fairly derogatory. The broadcasts intention appears to be in order to promote peace and make an example out of the hooligans, but in its language it appears as a n attack on those in support of the strike.In regards to the end of the strike, the BBC put out a broadcast that mentioned people that were outside Downing Street, chanting Baldwins name in support of him 57 . This was probably a relay of the events that were occurring but coupled with the way that the end of 54 55 56 57 General Strike news bulletins, 12th May 1926, BBC Written Archives, Caversham General Strike news bulletins, 9th May 1926, BBC Written Archives, Caversham General Strike news bulletins, 12th May 1926, BBC Written Archives, Caversham General Strike news bulletins, 12th May 1926, BBC Written Archives, Caversham 9 strike was broadcast it meant that people would have believed that the BBC were glad that the strike had been defeated. This is the way that it may have appeared to the working class, and the travel strikers. We can see that the end of the strike was announced and a piano played Jerusalem58, so it was made very grand. This was a festivity that peace had ret urned to the country it was not a celebration that the strike had been defeated. However, to a relatively new audience this is how it would have appeared to them. The lyrics to Jerusalem are very nationalist.We have seen the last lines of the hymn and they invoke a sense of national pride. This hymn not only allows us to see that religion did play a large part in the BBC, but it also appears to glorify England which after the strike would have came across to the strikers as being a celebration that the government had succeeded. Indeed, this is if the working class had understood the meaning of the song. It is not something that would have interested the majority of the working class people as they would only have wanted to hear the news reports and not the BBCs views of the events.The hymns actual intention was a celebration that England had pulled through this industrial dispute, however it could have been perceived, by the strikers, that the BBC were thankful that the general stri ke had been defeated. However, the Reithian ethos stood to promote social unity through all classes and unite as the British rather than as classes. The playing of Jerusalem is put into context when we know this however many new listeners of the BBC would not have known this about the BBC. Opinions of the some listeners at the time of the strike show that many believed that the BBC had been commandeered.The Daily Herald, a day before the strike began, warned 58 Leishmann, Marista, Reith of the BBC My Father (St Andrews Press, 2006) pp. 65-66 30 their readers against the propaganda on the BBC 59. This was a relatively large paper, that sympathised with the working class and would have had the belief that the BBC was essentially government propaganda, because it was a middle class past time. Beatrice Webb commenting on the BBC also said that she believed that the company had been commandeered by the government, although she did give credit to the BBC for giving the TUC airtime.Howeve r, Beatrice Webbs political allegiance lay with the Labour Party, who were a left wing political party. They would have had clear opposition to the Conservative government as firstly, the Labour Party was a party for the workers, and secondly because the Labour Party were wanting to be in government themselves. This shows us that Beatrice Webb was going to be for the general strike and against the Conservative government, this meant that anything that sounded against the strike was seen as a hindrance.The TUC and the Labour Party were therefore already at a disadvantage during the strike because the BBC and the government held similar values and were closely connected, this made it hard for them to get their point across on the BBC especially the Labour Party. We can firstly see that the news that the BBC got from Reuters was already of an anti-Labour bias, so they already got very little coverage. This left the Labour Party in a bad position because the BBC would also not allow the m to broadcast speeches on air.On Monday 10th May, Ramsay MacDonald asked John Reith if he was able to broadcast a speech this was not allowed by the government60. finishedout the period of the strike the BBC did not give consideration to the Labour Party. This would not have held true to the 59 Perkins,Anne (2006) pp. 125-6 60 Briggs, Asa, The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom Volume One, The Birth of Broadcasting (Oxford University Press, 1995) pp. 244-7 31 belief of an impartial BBC and would have affected the way that the BBC listeners heard their news.Those that were against the strike would not have had any problem with the Labour Party not being broadcast. The working class, that supported the Labour Party, would not have though this fair as there was not being any representation for them generally. The TUC were able to broadcast speeches and allow some announcements through the BBC. The TUC relationship also went the other way in that they used the BBC broadcast s to provide them with their news. This shows us that the TUC did trust some of what the BBC was saying, but did not trust everything. They knew that it was primarily a middle class tool and not for their interests.However, we can also see that the TUC did send items in to the BBC asking for certain broadcasts to be corrected on the strike. However, this did not happen. The way that the TUC and the Labour Party were restricted from broadcasting shows us that the BBC did not want to lose its independence. However the BBC was supposed to promoted social unity something that it had been started in order to advocate. The problem was that the BBC was essentially owned, ran and listened to by the middle class. This meant that it was a middle class tool that essentially represented middle class interests and values under the guise of social unity.The working class on the other hand did not manage to have the BBC represent them, unless they were working class Conservatives. Their wants and needs were not catered for the TUC and the Labour Party bulletins were not broadcast. This meant that those for the strike were essentially were scribbled out of the bulletins and forgotten about. This may have caused these groups to feel resentment towards the BBC. However, we must bear in mind that the Conservatives were very popular during this period and as such would have had a large following going in 2 to the general strike we saw earlier that the election statistics gave the Conservatives nearly half of the vote in 1924, so there was many people middle and working class that were voting Conservative. Prior to the general strike, the BBC held the idea of having high moral standards as important. This is why John Reith believed that the BBC should allow broadcasts from the church. Through out the first years of the BBC and in to the general strike the BBC regularly had broadcasts from members of the clergy.However, during the general strike there was a controversial issue inv olving the BBC and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church wanted to broadcast an appeal to both sides during the strike asking for a settlement61. The government said that this broadcast could not happen as it would lead to the BBC being commandeered. The broadcast did not go ahead. This shows us plainly that the Reithian ethos of high moral standards was a lesser need than that of the BBCs independence. It also shows us the grapple that the government had over the BBC was supreme.There was no need to commandeer the BBC because the threat of it would have worried Reith in to broadcasting the viewpoint of the government to the listeners. In conclusion, we can see that the BBC was under a great deal of pressure from all of their external influences. This inevitably influenced the way that they broadcast to their listeners, however we can see that the most influential of these was by farther the government. The reason for this was not only the fact that the BBC had the threat of lo sing their independence , but it was because the ideas that the government held on the strike were similar to that of the BBC.The message that Reith sent to Baldwin made this perfectly clear. The BBC did attempt to be as impartial as it could with out the government 61 Symons, Julian, The General Strike (House of Stratus, 2001) pp. 176-79 33 commandeering them. Reith did want to broadcast some of the items that, in the end, were not broadcast. As Reith has said himself, the decision lay with him. He could ultimately make up ones mind upon what went out to be broadcast, but he also had to decide how far he could take this before Winston Churchill and a few others in the cabinet decided that they wanted to commandeer the BBC.These pressures unfortunately affected the BBC and put them under great strain, which meant that the broadcasts often suffered, in turn meaning that the listeners opinion of the BBC also suffered. With a new set of listeners, it made the job of the BBC even more difficult because they had to cater for both the middle class and the working class alike. 34 Conclusion In conclusion, we can see that the British Broadcasting Company actually represented the general strike fairly to its listeners, in spite of being biased towards the government because of the pressure that was on it.This was because they managed to show that they could provide the relevant information to the nation. They also provided information to both sides of the conflict both the government and the Trades Union Council