Basil Clarke headed the PID, seen standing left. Sir John Anderson is seated second from right
Basil Clarke, an experienced journalist was appointed as part of the new Administration in May 1920. He struggled hard within the system to produce news that was both helpful to how the British were perceived in the world and would at the same time get published
He headed the "Public Information Department" Within the department were
The PIB had better relations with police than military. General Macready had little time for Basil Clarke, and preferred if possible to contol military information released to the press by the military themselves via his own military propaganda department . The Military want to take a hard line with their news, and failed to appreciate that overtly propaganda would not be printed by the British Press, and untruths would be exposed.
The police had their own police propaganda department. They produced a paper " “Weekly Summary” for circulation to the police. This tended to be for internal consumption, but copies got into IRA hands and untruths were quickly exposed
And the Irish Office in London had their own Irish Office PR department which caused embarrassment on a number of occasions.
All in all the profusion of competing PR departments was a recipie for disaster, and disaster occured on a number of occasions, with ministers on occasions having to appologise to Parliament. No one man had control over these various departments, and there were very few trained journalists who understood how the press worked, and what they would print.