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Abstract
Eklogi was published in 1945 by the Political Warfare Executive to be transferred, the following year, to the British Embassy. It belonged to the category of the International Digest issued by the Central Office of Information (COI) in several languages. The magazine was distributed to a wide range of recipients. A special cooperation between the Embassy and the PEAT (suppliers of newsagents) ensured sales in the provinces. Reader’s Digest was its main commercial rival. Yet, evidence available to the Embassy showed that Eklogi continued to make ‘its special impact’. At the height of the Greek civil war the FO believed that Eklogi would be ‘one of the most obvious channels to be so used’ of disseminating offensive propaganda in Greece. Eklogi closed in 1950. Its title was transferred to Eleni Vlachou of Kathimerini. She continued the magazine for another decade, using articles supplied by COI, and consulting the Embassy on the overall content of Eklogi.
Notes
1 Part of my wider current research on postwar British publicity and information policy in Greece to be published soon.
2 Defty, Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda, 114.
3 Adamthwaite, “Britain and the World,” 223–35. Defty, Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda, 41.
4 Defty, Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda, 41.
5 Deighton, “Entente Neo-Coloniale?” 835–52 ; Schneer, “Hopes Deferred or Shattered .” 197–226
6 A sample of the extensive literature on the subject is provided in the Bibliography.
7 Defty, Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda, 119–25.
8 Moore, The Origins of Modern Spin, 2, 5; Grant, “Towards a Central Office of Information,” 49.
9 FO930/484, P299, Cabinet Committee on Overseas Information Services, 2 April 1946, pages 3–10; Clark, The Central Office of Information, 11–12, 18, 35, 37; Grant, “Towards a Central Office of Information,” 49.
10 Marett, Through the Back Door, 124, 170–5; Clark, The Central Office of Information, 16–18, 34–5. For a comprehensive account, see Aldrich, The Hidden Hand.
11 Clark, The Central Office of Information, 50, 62.
12 FO930/493, P583, FO Minute by A. A. Dudley, IPD, FO, entitled ‘British News Digest', 24 June 1946.
13 FO930/493, P583, Minutes by Osward Scott, Maurice Lovell, COI, Ian Kirkpatrick, June–July 1946.
14 FO930/493, P583, Minutes by Dudley, 20 July 1946.
15 FO930/493, P583, draft plan: ‘British News Digest Service for Continental Countries’.
16 FO930/493, P611, FO Minute by Hall Patch, ‘Overseas Information Services Committee – 2nd Meeting’, 29 July 1946.
17 FO930/493, P585, Secret, Cabinet, Overseas Information Services (Official) Committee, Minutes of the 3rd Meeting, 23 July 1946.
18 FO924/560, LC4146, Minutes by Lovell, 20 September 1946.
19 FO930/496, P720, J. H. McMillan, Publications Division, COI to Dudley, 27 August 1946.
20 FO924/560, LC4146, F. R. Cowell, Cultural Relations Department, FO to McMillan, 29 August 1946.
21 FO930/496, P720, McMillan to Dudley, 27 August 1946; see also FO924/560, LC4146, McMillan to Cowell, and minutes by Cowell.
22 INF12/157, PU.2/1/36, International Review Series. Minutes of the Editorial Meeting, 6 August 1947, 1.
23 Ibid., 29 October 1947, 1.
24 Ibid., 12 November 1947, 1.
25 Ibid., 5 May 1948, 2.
26 Ibid., 6 August 1947, 1.
27 Ibid., 10 March, 1–2; 7 April, 1–2; 5 May 1948, 2.
28 INF12/158, PU.2/1/38, Publication's Echo Editorial Publicity, G. Langelaan (Echo, Paris) to McMillan, 7 July 1948.
29 INF12/157, PU.2/1/36, International Review Series, Editorial Meeting, 14 April 1948, 2.
30 Ibid., 16 June 1948, 1.
31 Ibid., 14 January 1948, 1.
32 FO12/159, PU 2/1/38, Publication's Echo Editorial Publicity, J. Gilbert to Langelaan, 16 September 1948.
33 Ibid., Gilbert to Langelaan, 1 March 1949.
34 Ibid., Monthly Report on Publicity and Reader Reactions. Echo – France and Belgium, September 1947.
35 Ibid., Minutes of Editorial Meeting, 22 October 1947, 1.
36 Ibid., 13 May 1948, 2.
37 FO12/158, PU 2/1/38, Publication's Echo Editorial Publicity, Subject: Readers' letters, MacMillan to editorial committee (J. D. Gilbert, B. Adler, D. Mangakis, de Jorge, and others), 10 May 1948.
38 INF12/157, PU.2/1/36, International Review Series, Minutes of Editorial Meeting, 16 June 1948, 1.
39 Ibid., 18 February 1948, 1–2.
40 Ibid., 14 January 1948, 1.
41 Since 1922 it has been reflecting an insight into the US political culture and global power relations, see Sharp, Condensing the Cold War, 2000, ix–x.
42 Ibid., 17 March 1948, 1.
43 Ibid., Neue Auslese Editorial Meeting – New Series, 14 October 1947.
44 Ibid., 7 November 1947, 1.
45 Ibid., 18 February 1948, 1–2.
46 Ibid., 30 June 1948, 1.
47 Ibid., 20 April 1948, 1.
48 FO1110/9, GEN231/1, “Anti-Communist Publicity. Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,” 30 March 1948. This Memorandum ties closely with the Directive CP(48) 8 of 4 January 1948.
49 Ibid.
50 FO1110/87, PR590, ‘The Digest’, 29 July 1948. See also FO1110/87, PR590, IRD letter to IOs, BBC, COI, CO, 4 and 5 August, 1948.
51 FO1110/4, PR119, “Anti-Cominform Campaign, Printed Media: A (‘White’),” MacMillan to Ralph Murray, FOID, 22 March 1948.
52 FO1110/9, PR361, Top Secret, “Brief of the secretary of State's meeting with the Minister of Defence and Chancellor of the Exchequer on 11th May,” 27 May 1948.
53 FO1110/2, Minutes, 12, 15, 25, 31 March 1948.
54 FO953/27, October–December 1946.
55 FO953/29, July–September 1947.
56 See note 53 above.
57 FO930/490, P501, Sir C. Norton to Ernest Bevin, 22 June 1946.
58 FO953/29, April–June 1947.
59 Ibid., January–March 1947.
60 Ibid., April–June 1947.
61 FO953/236, 26 May 1948.
62 Ibid., Minutes by Harrison, 15 June 1948.
63 FO953/236, October–December 1947.
64 FO953/29, April–June 1947.
65 FO953/554, January–June 1949.
66 FO953/29, January–March 1947.
67 FO953/29, PE4286, Minute by Ruthven-Murray, 14 November 1947.
68 See note 53 above.
69 FO953/29, July–September 1947.
70 FO953/28, January 1947.
71 FO953/554, October–December 1948.
72 Ibid.
73 FO953/554, January–June 1949.
74 FO953/554, 13 July 1949.
75 FO953/892, 18 April 1950.
76 FO953/892, Minutes, 29 August 1950.
77 Vlachou, Peninta chronia kai kati, 226.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Gioula Koutsopanagou
Gioula Koutsopanagou, History of Greek Journalism Workshop (ETMIET)/Researach Centre of Modern History, Department of Political Science and History, Panteion University, Athens, Greece. Hellenic Open University,