"Our casualties not heavy": how British press covered the Battle of the Somme

The battle of the Somme, which began on July 1, 1916, was the most brutal encounter of World War I, characterised by loss of life and attritional trench warfare. On the first day of combat, 19,240 British men lost their lives. But this was heralded in the British press as part of a “day going well for Britain and France”. The job of a journalist covering World War I was incredibly difficult and when looking back at some of the misleading press reports of the time it’s important to remember the constraints under which reporters operated. Apart from the physical difficulties and dangers involved in getting words and images from the front back to newsrooms at home, the law prevented the questioning of official information