Freemasonry and the Press in Twentieth-century Britain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jrff.v2i2.293Keywords:
freemasonry, British press, Twentieth-centuryAbstract
The following article—based upon a doctoral thesis that was approved by the University of London in 2011—represents a study of British media coverage of freemasonry in the twentieth-century. It considers how and why the public image of freemasonry changed from that of a highly respected élite organization, at the centre of public life in 1900, to a position on the fringes in the 1990s, regarded with suspicion and disapproval by many. It focuses exclusively on national newspapers. This article describes how the press projected a positive message of the organization for almost 40 years, based on a mass of news, which the author believes—and shows—emanated from the organization itself (making it an unexpected pioneer in modern public relations practice). It concludes that the change of image and public regard, which occurred during the twentieth-century, was due, mainly—but not solely—to masonic withdrawal from the public sphere. It considers—and finds wanting—the suggestion that this withdrawal was a response to fascist persecution and it offers a number of additional explanations. Freemasonry’s reluctance to engage with the media after 1936 powerfully assisted its critics, who grew in strength as a result of developments within the media and the churches. In the second-half of the century, greater competition spawned a more challenging form of journalism and accelerated the decline of deference. Concurrently, the rise of secularism and religious pluralism in Britain provided Christianity with increased competition and led some adherents to re-define freemasonry and to treat it as a rival. Throughout the period, ‘Conspiracy culture’ remained strong, rendering the secrecy of freemasonry a major handicap to public understanding. The history of freemasonry in twentieth-century Britain is largely an unexplored field and, in examining the fraternity’s media profile, this study also illuminates the organization’s collisions with nationalism, communism and state welfare provision.
References
Calderwood, Paul Richard, Freemasonry and the Press in Twentieth-century Britain, a doctoral thesis defended at the University of London, on 23 February 2011 (http://uk.bl.ethos.524921).
Central Office of Information, The British Press (London: HMSO, 1976).
Cesarani, David, Reporting Anti-Semitism: The Jewish Chronicle 1879–1979 (Southampton: University of Southampton, 1994).
Clarke, Peter, Hope and Glory: Britain 1900–2000 (London: Penguin, 1997).
Cohn, Norman, Warrant for Genocide (London: Serif, 1996).
Franklin, Bob, Newszak and the News Media (London: Arnold, 1997).
Frere, A. S. (ed.), Grand Lodge 1717–1967 (London: UGLE, 1967).
Habermas, Jürgen, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1989).
Hamill, John, The History of English Freemasonry (Addlestone: Lewis Masonic, 1994).
Henderson, K., Masonic World Guide (London: Lewis Masonic, 1984), 21.
House of Commons Select Committee, The Second Report on Freemasonry in Public Life (London: HMSO, 1999, May 19).
Lloyd, John, What the Media are Doing to Our Politics (London: Constable, 2004).
McNair, Brian, Cultural Chaos: Journalism, News and Power in a Globalised World (London: Routledge, 2006).
Marr, Andrew, My Trade: a Short History of British Journalism (London: Macmillan, 2004).
Murdock, G. and P. Golding, The Structure, Ownership and Control of the Press 1914–76, in G. Boyce, J. Curran and P. Wingate (eds), Newspaper History: from the 17th Century to the Present Day (London: Constable, 1978).
Prochaska, Frank, The Voluntary Impulse (London: Faber & Faber, 1998).
Roberts, J.M., The Mythology of the Secret Societies (London: Secker & Warburg, 1972).
Schramm, Wilbur (ed.), Mass Communications (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois, 1969).
The Financial Times (London: 1998).
The Times (London: 1901, 1902, 1911, 1914, 1919, 1920, 1921 and 1951).
The Daily Mirror (London: 1932).
The Manchester Guardian (Manchester: 1901).
The Observer (London: 1969).
Tunstall, Jeremy, The British Press in the Age of Television, in Harry Christian (ed.), The Sociology of Journalism and the Press (Keele: University of Keele, 1980).
Wadsworth, A. P., Newspaper Circulations 1800–1954 (Manchester: Manchester Statistical Society, IV, 1955).
Williams, Kevin, Read All About It! (Abingdon: Routledge, 2010).
2001 Census of England and Wales (London: Office of National Statistics, 2002).