The First World War was a period of development and experimentation in propaganda and official relations with the press. Policies and organisations were created ad hoc throughout the war. With each stage, however, both operations and content stressed patriotism and voluntary participation as key ideals. Older accounts of propaganda and press coverage emphasise the exploitation of atrocity stories and demonisation of enemies to suggest primarily negative manipulation.3 More recent scholarship increasingly stresses the frequency of positive and inclusive messages.4 It largely recognises that the negative picture of propaganda as a deceptive, dishonest, secretive and cynical assault on public understanding does not reflect wartime propaganda activity so much as a post-war turn against the war’s validity that left some blaming propaganda for their own previous endorsement. Moreover, the greater excesses in the war that followed settled its reputation.