Media and the British Empire (Palgrave Studies in the History of the Media)

'The only true history of a country', wrote Thomas Macaulay, 'is to be found in its newspapers.' Yet in the past scholars of imperial history and of the media have worked in separate, compartmentalized spheres and it is only recently that an integrationist approach has been taken towards studying the imperial experience. This book explores how the media shaped and defined the economic, social, political and cultural dynamics of the British Empire by viewing it from the perpective of the colonised as well as the colonisers. This Work Takes An Integrationalist Approach To Studying The Imperial Experience, Exploring How The Media Shaped And Defined The Social, Political And Cultural Dynamics Of The British Empire, From The Perspective Both Of The Colonised And Colonisers. Introductory Survey / Chandrika Kaul -- 'to Enlighten South Africa' : The Creation Of A Free Press At The Cape In The Early Nineteenth Century / John M. Mackenzie -- 'the Thinking Is Done In London' : South Africa's English Language Press And Imperialism / John Lambert -- 'the Old Pals' Protection Society'? The Colonial Office And The British Press On The Eve Of Decolonisation / Joanna Lewis And Philip Murphy -- The Media And The Exile Of Seretse Khama : The Bangwato Vs. The British In Bechuanaland, 1948-56 / Susan Williams -- Ernest Jones' Mutiny : The People's Paper, English Popular Politics And The Indian Rebellion, 1857-58 / Tim Pratt -- Writing To The Defence Of Empire : Winston Churchill's Press Campaign Against Constitutional Reform In India, 1929-1935 / Ian St John -- India, The Imperial Press Conferences And The Empire Press Union : The Diplomacy Of News In The Politics Of Empire, 1909-1946 / Chandrika Kaul -- 'business As Usual'? British Newsreel Coverage Of Indian Independence And Partition, 1947-1948 / Philip Woods -- Purity, Obscenity And The Making Of An Imperial Censorship System / Deana Heath -- Peripheral Politics? Antipodean Interventions In Imperial News And Cable Communication (1870-1912) / Denis Cryle -- A 'sense Of Common Citizenship'? Mrs Potts Of Reefton, New Zealand, Communicates With The Empire / Ross Harvey -- 'that Some Must Suffer For The Greater Good' : The Post Courier And The 1969 Bougainville Crisis / Philip Cass -- The Influence Of The British Empire Through The Development Of Communications In Canada : French Radio Broadcasting During The Second World War / Alain Canuel -- Echoes Of Cosmopolitanism : Colonial Penang's 'indigenous' English Press / Su Lin Lewis. Edited By Chandrika Kaul. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 250-261) And Index. The 14 broad-ranging and innovative essays in this collection examine the role of media and communications in shaping the British imperial experience in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. With perspectives drawn from both the peripheral context of the colonised and the metropolitan gaze of the colonisers, revealing new light is shed upon the part played by media institutions in shaping the political, economic, social and cultural dynamics of the British colonies and Dominions. The contributors seek to situate the role of media in the context of the empire and in the process throw light on the history of the media itself - in each case exhibiting sensitivity to the problematic relationship between media and the practice of imperial domination, of the economics of news collection and distribution, as well as the differing viewpoints of producers and consumers. The communication-media examined include electric telegraphs and news agencies, newspapers (national, provincial and local), books and printed ephemera, newsreels and wireless. In geographic terms, the coverage of the essays is equally wide, with contributions relating to South Africa, Kenya, Central Africa and Bechuanaland, Britain and the Indian sub-continent, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, Canada, and Malaya. Dr Chandrika Kaul is Lecturer in Modern History at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. Her research interests include the British press and political culture 1850-1950, the British imperial experience in South Asia, the Indian press, and communications in world history. She is author of Reporting the Raj, the British Press and India (Studies in Imperialism series, Manchester 2003), the first detailed examination of British press coverage of Indian affairs. She is currently working on a history of the Empire/Commonwealth Press Union Front Matter....Pages i-xv Introductory Survey....Pages 1-19 ‘To Enlighten South Africa’: The Creation of a Free Press at the Cape in the Early Nineteenth Century....Pages 20-36 ‘The thinking is done in London’: South Africa’s English Language Press and Imperialism....Pages 37-54 ‘The Old Pals’ Protection Society’? The Colonial Office and the British Press on the Eve of Decolonisation....Pages 55-69 The Media and the Exile of Seretse Khama: The Bangwato vs. the British in Bechuanaland, 1948–56....Pages 70-87 Ernest Jones’ Mutiny: The People’s Paper, English Popular Politics and the Indian Rebellion 1857–58....Pages 88-103 Writing to the Defence of Empire: Winston Churchill’s Press Campaign against Constitutional Reform in India, 1929–1935....Pages 104-124 India, the Imperial Press Conferences and the Empire Press Union: The Diplomacy of News in the Politics of Empire, 1909–1946....Pages 125-144 ‘Business as Usual’? British Newsreel Coverage of Indian Independence and Partition, 1947–1948....Pages 145-159 Purity, Obscenity and the Making of an Imperial Censorship System....Pages 160-173 Peripheral Politics? Antipodean Interventions in Imperial News and Cable Communication (1870–1912)....Pages 174-189 A ‘Sense of Common Citizenship’? Mrs Potts of Reefton, New Zealand, Communicates with the Empire....Pages 190-204 ‘That some must suffer for the greater good’: The Post Courier and the 1969 Bougainville Crisis....Pages 205-218 The Influence of the British Empire through the Development of Communications in Canada: French Radio Broadcasting during the Second World War....Pages 219-232 Echoes of Cosmopolitanism: Colonial Penang’s ‘Indigenous’ English Press....Pages 233-249 Back Matter....Pages 250-266 'The only true history of a country', wrote Thomas Macaulay, 'is to be found in its newspapers'. This book explores how the media shaped and defined the economic, social, political and cultural dynamics of the British Empire by viewing it from the perspective of the colonised as well as the colonisers.