Government attitudes to information

Abstract

Britain except in time of war has never had a Minister of Information. Each Minister is responsible not only for the policy of his Department but also for the publicity of that policy. During my thirty years in Local Authority and Parliament, I can honestly say that I have never been conscious of any Minister or Official withholding information from me. That may be because my specialties were not prominent in the field of controversy and—significantly—the furore arising from the publication of the Government White Paper CMD 7285, Reform of Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act, was generated by somewhat biased neutrals with an interest in controversial fields. I propose to return to the question of the White Paper toward the end of this paper.

Citation

Buchanan, R. (1979), "Government attitudes to information", Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 53-63. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb050659