The genesis of public relations in British colonial
Rosaleen Smyth
Abstract
This paper fills a gap in the documentation of the evolution of public relations in the 20th century
by demonstrating how the British Colonial Office employed public relations strategies and tactics in
the administration of an African colony. This policy development traced primarily through British
Colonial Office and Ministry of Information written and film archives in London, Zimbabwe and
Zambia demonstrates how colonial officials in an Africa colony in conjunction with civil servants at
the Colonial Office in London developed and implemented public relations policies, strategies and
tactics on an ad hoc basis in response to the need for colonial officials to communicate and manage
relations with colonial subjects in an intercultural setting.
The case study is that of the British colony of Northern Rhodesia, the evolution of government
public relations activities follows three distinct phases, before, during and after World War II and
covers political public relations as well as community development activities and “education for
citizenship.” © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
ideas in the colonies more particularly by the Press, Broadcasting and the Cinema.”1 And as
the Secretary of State for Colonies, W.G.A. Ormsby-Gore told the conference: “What
railways and steamships were in their far-reaching effects to the nineteenth century world,
cinema, wireless and the cheapening of the daily press are to the twentieth century.”