‘Meet the bloody fool who went to St Nazaire on Dunstan Curtis’s boat!’ Journalists in a time of crisis by Julia Jones
Watching the Channel 4 journalists every night, telling us about the wonderfulness of the NHS and woefulness of the government, prompts thought about earlier reporting in a time of crisis. I'm currently researching WW2 naval history and have felt surprised by the number of books (and films) describing active service which were published when that service was still active -- and the end of the 'story' not known. The naval officers whose lives I’m writing about were volunteers so it’s probably not surprising that some of them took to their pens to try to make sense of their new existence – despite censorship and the Navy’s initial attempt to ban the keeping of diaries. These volunteers were not going to be dependent on the goodwill of the Lords of the Admiralty in their future careers so could afford some mild assertions of independence. It wasn't long before the Navy decided to make the best of this. Publication could be facilitated -- if the content was accepta...