Northcliffe and the Press

At the dawn of the 20th century, Britain entered a new era of mass politics. It begun in the 1880s by the extension of the vote to a majority of men- although women could not vote until 1918, and then only if they were aged 30 and above - and continued by educational reforms including the requirement for all children to attend school. The first British daily newspaper to achieve mass circulation was the Daily Mail, which appeared in 1896; deliberately priced at half penny, or half the price of most newspapers, this was owned by the Irish-born Alfred Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe). In 1908 Harmsworth also bought The Times, which was seen as the mouthpiece of the British governing class.

By 1914, Northcliffe's newspapers accounted for about half the total daily sales in London alone. Northcliffe's success ushered in the era of the 'press baron' in British politics, including his brother Lord Rothermere, and fellow Canadian Sir Max Aitkin (later Lord Beaverbrook), owner of the Daily Express. Most adults in Britain had access to either a national or local daily newspaper, and even in small country villages pages from the local newspaper would be pinned up on public notice boards to be read.

Only as the war continued did the government start to extend its grip on propaganda and public opinion.

With no opinion polls or other ways of judging public opinion, politicians paid exaggerated respect to newspapers and their owners, learning to give interviews and to exert influence behind the scenes. David Lloyd George, in particular, as one of the new breed of populist politicians, associated himself closely with these newspaper owners and editors and they played a part in his becoming Prime Minister in December 1916.

Despite many myths after the war, there was in 1914 no fully developed British government organisation or plan for propaganda or the manipulation of public opinion. Just as with the army recruiting drives, so the posters, newspaper proclamations and claims of German 'atrocities' were the product of a complex mix of spontaneous action, national and local politics, and business initiatives. Only as the war continued did the government start to extend its grip on propaganda and public opinion, as on many other aspects of society.

The perceived importance of the press barons in maintaining or manipulating support for the war reached its logical conclusion in 1918 with Northcliffe's appointment to the new post of Director of Propaganda in Enemy Countries, and Beaverbrook's as head of the equally new Ministry of Information.