Eden, Suez and the Mass Media Propaganda and Persuasion During the Suez Crisis - Tauris Academic Studies

This work looks at the way the media in Britain can, in times of crisis, be used as an instrument of propaganda. Through a study of the Eden Government's battle for the hearts and minds of the British and American people during the 1956 Suez Crisis, Tony Shaw dispels the myth that the BBC and Fleet Street were passive observers of events and faithfully reflected public opinion. Using government documents and media sources, he explores Eden's efforts to create a climate of opinion for military action against Egypt, and the war of nerves against the Nasser regime that followed.;Arguing that, despite his reputation as one of Fleet Street's most celebrated victims, Eden was a remarkably successful propagandist, Shaw attributes this success to the unhealthy intimacy between the press and government in Britain, Fleet Street's over-willingness to censor itself, and the government's efforts to turn the BBC into a straight organ of propaganda. The book includes an interesting comparison between Eden's propaganda policy and Thatcher's during the 1982 Falklands Crisis.