CDKW00391 - Press for the Princess Pats

This note from Wrong to Pearson from May 1951 indicates how much the UN mission’s success was seen to hinge upon favorable press coverage and promoting morale at home. “Our friend Cuneo,” likely a reference to Ernest Cuneo, who had recently purchased the North American Newspaper Alliance, was heavily pushing the Canadian government to begin publishing news stories or even communiques describing the heroic exploits of the Princess Pats (2 PPCLI) in Korea. Although running communiques was “out of the question” for Ottawa, Wrong clearly felt that more news stories about non-American troops in Korea would be heavily advantageous in America, where most civilians felt that they were carrying the brunt of the fighting. Cuneo stated that he would try and dig up more information about non-American units in Korea. In response, Wrong still cautioned that any coverage would need to follow Ridgway’s censorship rules to protect the units in question, even as he tentatively agreed with Cuneo that greater American press coverage of Canadian units would be advantageous