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D-Notice
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D-Notice
In the United Kingdom, D-Notices, officially known since 2015 as DSMA-Notices (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notices), are official requests to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects for reasons of national security.
DSMA-Notices were originally called Defence Notices (abbreviated to D-Notice) from their inception in 1912 to 1993, and DA-Notices (Defence Advisory Notices) from 1993 until the mid-2010s.
A similar D-Notice system was previously operational in Australia, but has fallen into disuse. Sweden maintained a similar "grey notice" system during World War II, as described below.
In the UK, the original D-notice system was introduced in 1912 and run as a voluntary system by a joint committee headed by an Assistant Secretary of the War Office and a representative of the Press Association. Any D-notices are only advisory requests and are not legally enforceable; hence, news editors can choose not to abide by them. However, they are generally complied with by the media.
In 1971, all existing D-notices were cancelled and replaced by standing D-notices, which gave general guidance on what might be published and what was discouraged; and what would require further advice from the secretary of the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee (DPBAC). In 1993, the notices were renamed DA-notices (Defence Advisory Notices).
One of the recommendations resulting from the 2015 review of the D-notice system included the renaming of the system to the Defence and Security Media Advisory (DSMA) Committee. This name reflected better the longstanding inclusion of the work of the intelligence agencies. In 2017, the notices were reworded and then reorganized into the following categories:
According to an article in Defence Viewpoints, between 1997 and 2008 there were "30 occasions where the committee secretary has written to specific editors when a breach in the D-Notice guidelines is judged to have occurred".
In 1967, a political scandal known as the D-notice affair occurred, when Prime Minister Harold Wilson made an attack on the Daily Express, accusing it of breaching two D-notices which advised the press not to publish material which might damage national security. When the newspaper asserted it had not been advised of any breach, an inquiry was set up under a committee of privy counsellors. The committee found against the government, whereupon the government refused to accept its findings on the disputed article, prompting press outrage and the resignation of the secretary of the D-notice committee.
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D-Notice
In the United Kingdom, D-Notices, officially known since 2015 as DSMA-Notices (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notices), are official requests to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects for reasons of national security.
DSMA-Notices were originally called Defence Notices (abbreviated to D-Notice) from their inception in 1912 to 1993, and DA-Notices (Defence Advisory Notices) from 1993 until the mid-2010s.
A similar D-Notice system was previously operational in Australia, but has fallen into disuse. Sweden maintained a similar "grey notice" system during World War II, as described below.
In the UK, the original D-notice system was introduced in 1912 and run as a voluntary system by a joint committee headed by an Assistant Secretary of the War Office and a representative of the Press Association. Any D-notices are only advisory requests and are not legally enforceable; hence, news editors can choose not to abide by them. However, they are generally complied with by the media.
In 1971, all existing D-notices were cancelled and replaced by standing D-notices, which gave general guidance on what might be published and what was discouraged; and what would require further advice from the secretary of the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee (DPBAC). In 1993, the notices were renamed DA-notices (Defence Advisory Notices).
One of the recommendations resulting from the 2015 review of the D-notice system included the renaming of the system to the Defence and Security Media Advisory (DSMA) Committee. This name reflected better the longstanding inclusion of the work of the intelligence agencies. In 2017, the notices were reworded and then reorganized into the following categories:
According to an article in Defence Viewpoints, between 1997 and 2008 there were "30 occasions where the committee secretary has written to specific editors when a breach in the D-Notice guidelines is judged to have occurred".
In 1967, a political scandal known as the D-notice affair occurred, when Prime Minister Harold Wilson made an attack on the Daily Express, accusing it of breaching two D-notices which advised the press not to publish material which might damage national security. When the newspaper asserted it had not been advised of any breach, an inquiry was set up under a committee of privy counsellors. The committee found against the government, whereupon the government refused to accept its findings on the disputed article, prompting press outrage and the resignation of the secretary of the D-notice committee.