British Press Control in Palestine during the Arab Revolt, 1936—39

Abstract

Press control became a subject much discussed by the Mandatory authorities in an era—and a land—in which the printed press and the mass media in general were making an increasing impact. This article examines the development of British policies and legislation on press control in Palestine in the 1930s, and the forceful application of administrative suspension and pre-publication censorship during the Arab Revolt. It demonstrates that the legal framework for the regulation of the press owed a great deal to British imperial thought and colonial precedents. And it suggests that control measures over the Arab, Jewish and foreign press, imposed to safeguard public security and reduce inter-communal tensions and strife, were also employed, or in effect served, to protect the reputation of the British administration and security forces.