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There is the concealment of truth, which has to be resorted to so as to prevent anything to the credit of the enemy reaching the public. A war correspondent who mentioned some chivalrous act that a German had done to an Englishman during an action received a rebuking telegram from his employer: 'Don't want to hear about any good Germans'; and Sir Philip Gibbs, in Realities of War, says: 'At the close of the day the Germans acted with chivalry, which I was not allowed to tell at the time.'

Arthur Ponsonby#17

WarPropagandaMediaEthicsCensorship

About this quote

What does it mean?
War reports often suppress positive actions by the enemy to maintain a hostile narrative, silencing truth for propaganda.
In plain terms
Good deeds by the enemy are hidden to keep public hatred.
What can you take from it?
Recognize that war reporting may be deliberately one‑sided.

Where it applies

  • reading wartime newspapers
  • studying war correspondence
  • media analysis

Putting it to work

  • compare multiple sources
  • look for omitted stories
  • question editorial policies

Questions to consider

  • Why might a press suppress enemy kindness?
  • What is the impact of such omission on public opinion?

Another view

Sometimes genuine positive acts are omitted for security reasons, not just propaganda.

More from Arthur Ponsonby

  1. When the generation that has known war is still alive, it is well that they should be given chapter and verse with regard to some of the best-known cries, catc…

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  2. In Vienna an enterprising firm supplied atrocity photographs with blanks for the headings so that they might be used for propaganda purposes by either side.

    Permalink to quote #18
  3. When war reaches such dimensions as to involve the whole nation, and when the people at its conclusion find they have gained nothing but only observe widesprea…

    Permalink to quote #15

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