Spookmania and the media

Abstract

The media, and their audiences, have long been obsessed with spies and spying. In 1912, to avoid overt censorship, the British government and the then press proprietors reached a gentlemanly agreement to establish a D-Notice Committee in order to restrict reporting of intelligence and security matters that might harm the national interest. It is a system that continues to work effectively, writes Nick Wilkinson, who served as the D-Notice Secretary for five years and whose official history of the system will be published in May this year.