Letters

D-Notice

How It's Used

“Responding to criticism at the time, the British government said the bombing raids [in Kosovo] were 'the most accurate ever conducted.' But with release of the classified data on hits and misses, the Defense Ministry now says that the term 'most accurate' was meant to be interpreted as 'relative to the operational environment.' This 'environment' includes the bad weather and the tactical decision to bomb only from high altitudes to reduce the risk to pilots.

“The Defense Ministry was so sensitive about the release of its classified study that it initially invoked Britain's 'D-Notice' system, a form of prior restraint that bars publication of information on grounds it will endanger national security. After the ministry began these proceedings, editors at Flight International discussed their article with Royal Air Force officials and rewrote it to include the official explanations of the data. Once that happened, the government did not try to block publication.”

“The whole thing [Prince Harry’s deployment to Afghanistan] was a PR stunt, from beginning to end, a more extended version of the politicians' visits which the media also keep quiet about in advance. But the media's self-denying ordinances for politicians last only a day or two. In Harry's case, the public was kept in the dark for more than two months. It was described as 'a gentleman's agreement', an appropriately quaint term which recalls the most famous news blackout of all—the affair between Edward VIII and the American divorcee—Wallis Simpson, in 1936.

“This was entirely voluntary—there seems to have been no official or even unofficial request, much less a promise of later 'access' if newspapers behaved themselves—and it held, despite the King and Simpson walking out openly together. Foreign newspapers were censored by wholesalers. The British blackout was ended, not by Fleet Street, but by the provincial press, on the rather flimsy grounds that a bishop, in his Sunday sermon, said the King was in urgent need of God's grace. The establishment looked after its own in those days. In 1935, for example, Lord Beaverbrook, the Express proprietor, ensured there was no coverage when his friend and employee Tom Driberg was charged at the Old Bailey with indecent assault on two miners (sic). But these days, news blackouts most commonly involve kidnappings, hijackings and sieges, where the police fear publicity might jeopardise operations and risk lives. More generally, security matters have long been governed by the D-notice (now sanitised as 'defence advisory') system, under which editors can consult a Whitehall committee about material potentially damaging to the national interest.”

“As the title [‘The Bank Job’] more than hints, it's a heist flick—of British origin and very loosely based on an actual case way back in 1971, the looting of safety-deposit boxes from a Baker Street bank. The London newspapers dubbed the theft the 'Walkie-Talkie Robbery' (the thieves' chatter was picked up by a ham radio operator), but then they abruptly stopped reporting the story, allegedly because the government issued a 'D Notice' censoring the coverage in the noble name of national security.”

“Much of the photographic and video evidence gathered by the public in the Tomlinson case has been disseminated on the Web, as has the sensitive document inadvertently revealed by Mr. Quick, the now former antiterrorism official. Mr. Quick's mistake caused consternation at the highest levels of government. Informed on Wednesday that The Evening Standard planned to publish a clear photograph of the document that night, the Ministry of Defense quickly issued a so-called D notice, which restricts publication of sensitive documents relating to national security. But it was too late: the information had already gone out over the Internet. On Thursday, The Standard published its photograph, albeit with several important details—apparently the names of antiterrorism officers involved in the operation—blacked out. Other newspapers posted the photograph on their Web sites.”

“At the centre of this tension between secrecy and accountability in the UK is the D-Notice system. For nearly a century, a joint committee of government and media representatives has existed that aims to prevent publication of information which would endanger national security—it encompasses the military as well as secret services. Contrary to popular belief, it is not—and never has been—a compulsory form of censorship. It is a voluntary system of self-censorship under which the media agree to a set of guidelines delineating areas of sensitivity that editors take into account before publishing a story.”

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