Government Propaganda in the 1950s: The Role of the News and Information Bureau

Abstract

This article examines the background to Australian government information or propaganda campaigns in the 1950s carried out by journalists employed in the Australian News and Information Bureau, the government's overseas publicity unit. It explores the demise of the Department of Information, its replacement by the Australian News and Information Bureau (ANIB), the threats to the existence of the organisation and its increasing relevance in publicising the government's policies arising from the need to counteract adverse publicity generated by the white Australia policy and to publicise the Colombo Plan. It evaluates these campaigns to the extent that surviving material allows, and advances reasons for their success. It draws on information in departmental files, studies of government information policies towards Asia and the personal experience of the writer, who was an ANIB journalist in the Melbourne and Canberra offices during the 1950s.

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