The 'Nazi cyclists might be spies' story provides a classic example of this. The files release has been widely published across the media today. But this story was well know in 1937, when as the file states, a story appeared in the Daily Herald. Its certainly been recycled since. There is nothing in the MI5 file that adds anything but incidental detail to existing knowledge. The trend to sell stories from MI5 files as new is recent and growing case of churnalism.
Journalists simply do not know or ignore any prior publication of storioes in these files. Even the BBC's excellent Document radio series has a tendency to ignore previous publication. It is a dfisservice tot viewers, listeners and readers who do not know what importance to place on these overblown stories.
Released Intelligence files should only make the news if they reveal something new. But then reporters don't seem to be able to say: "There is nothing new in this document release. In fact it is boring."
The challenging stories are the ones the intelligence services do not release.
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MI5 suspected Hitler Youth cyclists were spies | |
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