"ملف 61/11 IX (D 159) مسائل متنوعة خاصة بالحجاز ونجد" [و‎‎١‎٠‎٩] (٣٩١/٢٢٨)

' >0
news and no comment. When I asked him whether he had not
■ h;Lmself noticed that in certain recent issues there was a
preponderance of news of German and Italian origin s he
replied that he never read the foreign news in the local
papers and he did not believe that any one else did, as
every educated Arab had a wireless set and listened to the
news * ' L asked h±m how lie thought British compared with
German and Italian broadcasts in popularity. He replied
that what people wanted at the moment was straight and
accurate news; tiiey didn't like tendentious comment such as
Bari gave them. Germany had lost much ground during the
s Norwegian campaign when their news was patently false even
uo an untrained Arab intelligence. British news was felt
^ uo be accurate ? it was more detailed and;, most important ?
the Arabic was better, was better pronounced and reception
was better from England than from either Berlin or Bari.
6. Although I had impressed on the Qaimmaqam that I
was not making official representations at this stage but
merely wanted him to look into the matters I had raised and
give me in due course his opinion, he must thereupon have
reported the whole conversation to the King for he called
on me a week later bearing the message which I summarized
in my telegram under reference and of which a full trans
lation accompanies this despatch.
7- I requested the Qaimmaqam to thank His Majesty
for his message the terms of which would I was convinced
give His Majesty's Government as much pleasure and satis
faction as they had given me. In bringing this question to
the Qaimmaqam's notice I was not actuated by the slightest
suspicion that Ibn Saud had changed his policy or his
/ sentiments.