Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The censor strikes


We've been getting quite a good press recently in one particular specialist journal, Defence Management. But no more. All the stories they have placed which mention this blogger (bar one which seems to have escaped) have been pulled. A search on the site yields the results shown above.

By way of a replacement, one of the latest feature stories is a puff for the Jackal, demonstrating that this journal has been pulled into line.

We knew this was going on, of course – and was bound to happen, ever since I published Ministry of Defeat. The MoD will not confront the issues raised directly. Instead, creature of the night that it is, it briefs behind the scenes, warning journalists not to touch it. And those that do can expect a torrid time.

That is the way the system works. The action is never overt – banning the book, for instance, or raising a "D-notice" would have raised the profile of the book. But, overt or not, the message is clear: informed criticism is not allowed.

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