The Press Union at the end of empire : Anglo-Australian perspectives, 1946–65

The article provides an overview of the post-war contexts in which the Empire Press Union became the Commonwealth Press Union and offers an assessment of its changing leadership and regular five-yearly conferences over the period, 1946 to 1961. In particular, it examines the extent to which its pre-war hierarchies and British influence were sustained or modified with the decline of empire and the advent of international bodies such as the United Nations. How did these post-war changes, and the power blocks which emerged, affect the role of longstanding member countries like Australia and new member countries on such fundamental issues as censorship and freedom of the press? and how did the politics of decolonisation alter Australian and Dominion relations both with Britain and with the new information order?