British Information Services

Last updated

British Information Services (BIS) was an overt propaganda organization [1] that was part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the government of the United Kingdom. [2]

Contents

BIS was initially formed in 1941 as an organization to promote British interests in the United States. [3] It was later expanded to operate in countries around the world, [3] [4] eventually expanding to have a presence in around 40 countries. [5] attached to British embassies. [6]

The U.S. operations of BIS had a headquarters in Washington, D.C., with offices in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. [7] The New York office had a budget of £240,786 in 1949. [7]

“The British Library of Information in New York: A Tool of British Foreign Policy, 1919-1942.” outlines the library's early history. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Armed Forces</span> Combined military forces of the United Kingdom

The British Armed Forces are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts and provide humanitarian aid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign relations of the United Kingdom</span>

The diplomatic foreign relations of the United Kingdom are conducted by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, headed by the Foreign Secretary. The prime minister and numerous other agencies play a role in setting policy, and many institutions and businesses have a voice and a role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC World Service</span> International radio division of the BBC

The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcasts radio news, speech and discussions in more than 40 languages to many parts of the world on analogue and digital shortwave platforms, internet streaming, podcasting, satellite, DAB, FM and MW relays. In 2015, the World Service reached an average of 210 million people a week. In November 2016, the BBC announced that it would start broadcasting in additional languages including Amharic and Igbo, in its biggest expansion since the 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office</span> Ministerial department of the UK Government

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign Secretary</span> Member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom

The secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs, also known as the foreign secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The role is seen as one of the most senior ministers in the UK Government and is a Great Office of State. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom and National Security Council, and reports directly to the prime minister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department for International Development</span> Former department of the UK Government

The Department for International Development (DFID) was a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid.

Global Affairs Canada is the department of the Government of Canada that manages Canada's diplomatic and consular relations, promotes Canadian international trade, and leads Canada's international development and humanitarian assistance. It is also responsible for maintaining Canadian government offices abroad with diplomatic and consular status on behalf of all government departments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Council</span> Organisation promoting cultural and linguistic knowledge of the United Kingdom

The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language ; encouraging cultural, scientific, technological and educational cooperation with the United Kingdom. The organisation has been called a soft power extension of UK foreign policy, as well as a tool for propaganda.

A war cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war to efficiently and effectively conduct that war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers, although it is quite common for a war cabinet to have senior military officers and opposition politicians as members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Committee on Public Information</span> Former independent agency of the government of the United States

The Committee on Public Information (1917–1919), also known as the CPI or the Creel Committee, was an independent agency of the government of the United States under the Wilson administration created to influence public opinion to support the US in World War I, in particular, the US home front.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)</span> United Kingdom government ministry

The Ministry of Information (MOI), headed by the Minister of Information, was a United Kingdom government department created briefly at the end of the First World War and again during the Second World War. Located in Senate House at the University of London during the 1940s, it was the central government department responsible for publicity and propaganda. The MOI was dissolved in March 1946, with its residual functions passing to the Central Office of Information (COI); which was itself dissolved in December 2011 due to the reforming of the organisation of government communications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Office of War Information</span> United States government agency created during World War II

The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other forms of media, the OWI was the connection between the battlefront and civilian communities. The office also established several overseas branches, which launched a large-scale information and propaganda campaign abroad. From 1942 to 1945, the OWI revised or discarded any film scripts reviewed by them that portrayed the United States in a negative light, including anti-war material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auxiliaries</span> An organized group supplementing the military or law enforcement

Auxiliaries are support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties such as garrison troops, usually on a part-time basis. Unlike a military reserve force, an auxiliary force does not necessarily have the same degree of training or ranking structure as regular soldiers, and it may or may not be integrated into a fighting force. Some auxiliaries, however, are militias composed of former active duty military personnel and actually have better training and combat experience than their regular counterparts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commonwealth citizen</span> National of a Commonwealth of Nations member state

A Commonwealth citizen is a citizen of a Commonwealth of Nations member state. Most member countries generally do not treat citizens of other Commonwealth states any differently from foreign nationals, but do grant limited citizenship rights to resident Commonwealth citizens. For example, in 14 member states, resident non-local Commonwealth citizens are eligible to vote in elections. The status is most significant in the United Kingdom, and carries few or no privileges in many other Commonwealth countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Overseas Territories citizen</span> Type of British nationality

A British Overseas Territories citizen (BOTC), formerly called British Dependent Territories citizen (BDTC), is a member of a class of British nationality granted to people connected with one or more of the British Overseas Territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign Agents Registration Act</span> United States law regulating foreign lobbying

The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is a United States law that imposes public disclosure obligations on persons representing foreign interests. It requires "foreign agents"—defined as individuals or entities engaged in domestic lobbying or advocacy for foreign governments, organizations, or persons —to register with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and disclose their relationship, activities, and related financial compensation.

The Foreign Affairs Select Committee is one of many select committees of the British House of Commons, which scrutinises the expenditure, administration and policy of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

BBC Persian is the Persian language broadcast station and subsidiary of BBC World Service which conveys the latest political, social, economical and sport news relevant to Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, and the world. Its headquarters are in London, United Kingdom.

The Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (PCGN) is an independent inter-departmental body in the United Kingdom established in 1919. Its function is to establish standard names for places outside the UK, for the use of the British government. The Committee has collaborated with the Foreign Names Committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names to agree a joint romanization system, first published in 1994 as the Romanization Systems and Roman-Script Spelling Conventions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proposed Canadian political association with the Turks and Caicos Islands</span> Annexation proposal by the Canadian government

The potential political association of the Turks and Caicos Islands along with Canada is a recurring topic perennially discussed at times in various cross sections of society of both nations, and usually emerging in discourse during northern hemispheric winter. The islands are currently a British Overseas Territory under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom which covers the territory's foreign affairs and national defence.

References

  1. Taylor, Philip M. (25 October 2012). "Power, Propaganda and Public Opinion: The British Information Services and the Cold War, 1945–57". Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy and the Origins of the EEC, 1952-1957. De Gruyter. pp. 445–461. doi:10.1515/9783110874365.445. ISBN   978-3-11-087436-5.
  2. Foreign Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: British Information Service, Overseas Posts: Registered Files. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, British Information Service, Foreign Office, British Information Service. 1968–1970.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. 1 2 Cull, Nicholas John; Culbert, David Holbrook; Welch, David (2003). Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present. ABC-CLIO. p. 41. ISBN   978-1-57607-820-4.
  4. "BRITISH INFORMATION SERVICES", House of Commons Debates, vol. 540, UK Parliament, cc133-58, 19 April 1955, retrieved 10 April 2022
  5. "OVERSEAS INFORMATION SERVICES", House of Lords Debates, vol. 280, UK Parliament, cc1438-501, 8 March 1967, retrieved 11 April 2022
  6. Operations, United States Congress House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on State Department Organization and Foreign (1974). United States Information Agency Authorization for Fiscal Year 1975: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on State Department Organization and Foreign Operations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-third Congress, Second Session, April 3, 4, 11, and 22, 1974. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  7. 1 2 "BRITISH INFORMATION SERVICES, U.S.A.", House of Commons Debates, vol. 460, UK Parliament, cc834-77, 25 January 1949, retrieved 10 April 2022
  8. Lincove, David A. 2011. “The British Library of Information in New York: A Tool of British Foreign Policy, 1919-1942.” Libraries & the Cultural Record 46 (2): 156–84.