"[T]here was never a less far-sighted schemer than Northcliffe in the history of the world. His strongest characteristic, and the secret of his success, is that he is so extraordinarily sensitive to the mood of the moment. No one was ever less like a Machiavelli. What he really is, is a master of publicity, and that enables him to associate himself, and to be associated by others, with political movements and events with which in nine cases out of ten he has hardly the remotest connection. If Lloyd George had been wise, he would have asked him to undertake the whole business of foreign propaganda for the nation, and disregarded the jealousy of every other newspaper in the country. He could have justified his choice up to the hilt in that connection. No one would have done it better."
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Geoffrey Dawson, quoted in Evelyn Wrench, Geoffrey Dawson and Our Times (1955), pp. 162-163
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alfred_Harmsworth%2C_1st_Viscount_Northcliffe
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Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (15 July 1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror, he was an early developer of popular journalism, and he exercised vast influence over British popular opinion during the Edwardian era. Lord Beaverbrook said he was "the greatest figure who ever strode down Fleet Street." About the beginning of the 20th century there were increasing attempts to develop popula
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