This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
The module examines the role and performance of British newspaper and radio journalism from the Abdication Crisis of 1936 until the General Election of 1945. It explores the relationships between government and the press, and government and the British Broadcasting Corporation during the era of appeasement and war. The module assesses the manner in which journalism responded to the challenge of holding power to account in a democracy at war against totalitarianism. It explores leading editors' and titles' understanding of the difference between security censorship and policy censorship. It examines journalists’ role in creating the myth of the blitz and the concept of people’s war. It assesses the parts played by popular and quality newspapers in speaking truth to power on issues of strategic policy and popular controversy. Journalists in a democracy at war face intense pressure to exercise self-censorship in the national interest. The module explores the extent to which journalists succumbed willingly to this pressure and the extent to which they resisted it in the public interest. It examines the growth of the BBC in wartime and reflects on the relationship between the corporation and increasingly powerful popular newspapers.
Total Contact Hours: 24
Private Study Hours: 126
Total Study Hours: 150
MA Multimedia Journalism
MA in International Multimedia Journalism
Main assessment methods
Essay (3500 words) (40%)
Examination, 3 hour (40%)
Seminar Presentation (20%)
Reassessment methods
Reassessment Instrument: 100% examination
Angus Calder, The People's War, London: Pimlico, 2008
Richard Cockett, Twilight of Truth: Chamberlain, Appeasement and the Manipulation of the Press, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989
Daniel Hucker, Public Opinion and the End of Appeasement in Britain and France, Farnham, Ashgate Publishing, 2011
Desmond Hawkins (Ed) War Report: BBC Radio Dispatches from the Front Line, 1944-1945, BBC Books, 2014
Tim Luckhurst, Excellent but Gullible People, The Press and the People's Convention, Journalism Studies Volume 14, No.1 pp. 62-77
Sian Nicholas, The Echo of War: home front propaganda and the wartime BBC 1939-1945, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996.
See the library reading list for this module (Medway)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a systematic understanding and critical awareness of the key features and methods of the reporting of politics and international affairs in British newspapers between the Abdication Crisis of 1936 and the 1945 General Election
2. Demonstrate a systematic understanding and critical awareness of the key features and methods deployed in the reporting of politics on BBC Radio between 1936 and 1945
3. Acquire a comprehensive knowledge of and be able to critically evaluate debates on the role of British newspaper and broadcast journalism during this period in the student's own research and advanced scholarship
4. Demonstrate a systematic understanding of the evolution of newspaper journalism and be able to critically assess the conduct of newspapers between 1936 and 1945
5. Demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of the evolution of radio journalism and be able to critically reflect on the conduct of the BBC between 1936 and 1945
6. Acquire a comprehensive knowledge of advanced scholarship regarding the reporting of appeasement and war in British national newspapers and on BBC Radio
7. Demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge and systematic understanding of the complex interplay between journalists and the British state between 1936 and 1945.
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a systematic understanding and critical awareness of the key events, arguments and theories in the relevant advanced academic scholarship
2. Critically evaluate and apply knowledge of relevant concepts and theories and demonstrate a degree of originality in the formulation and framing of historical arguments
3. Comprehensively implement research and writing skills in individual written work
4. Demonstrate strong oral communication skills
5. Exercise independent learning skills and organise their study in an efficient and professional manner.
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