by Frank West
The News From Ireland: Foreign Correspondents and The Irish Revolution
By Maurice Walsh, I.B. Tauris. 258 pages, $29.95.
During World War I British propaganda painted German soldiers as barbarians and Huns. The propaganda image became very influential in our government. The British got away with this because the news services on the Associated Press telegraph cable came from continental Europe. However, the cable went through London, and only the British view of the war came to the United States.
The German soldiers were young enlisted men, not different from American, or even British soldiers, but our country heard only how evil they were. These biased stories - The rape of Belgium for instance - got us into World War I (1914-1918).After the war, Woodrow Wilson, helped small countries become independent, but when it came to Ireland he did nothing. Wilson said it was an internal matter of the British Empire! He wouldn’t even speak with the delegates from Ireland at the peace conference.
British propaganda attacked Irish Republican soldiers during the Irish War for Independence (1916-1921). British propaganda was aimed at smearing the ideals and goals the Republican soldiers fought for.
This fascinating book describes how it was done. Some correspondents were just mouthpieces for Britian. (Thatcher tried to do the same in our times during the Hunger Strike). However, some international reporters visited ireland and gathered unbiased facts.
This book describes the struggle for the truth.
