London Television Service News Features "Political Programs" 

London Television Service (LTS) was the provision of individual  news (in the broadest sense of the word) items to overseas television stations. There is evidence of several thousand items being produced though few of them remain. An example of a general news item follows.

Henley Royal Regatta (click here to view from BFI) the item runs for just under 4 minutes consisting of a number of views of the regatta in progress. There is no commentary. The film would have been accompanied with a suggested script that would have been used by the local newsreader . Distribution would been made to several lists agreed with the Foreign Office.

The use of television programs as distinct from short television news items or news features, for political or “hard” information subjects was relatively rare. The simple reason was that television stations were generally not prepared or allowed to transmit overtly political programs produced by foreign governments. There were a few exceptions to this rule such as: 
 
1972 Uganda Asians:(click here to view from BFI) about the influx of refugees from Uganda to the UK. State papers released decades later showed that Edward Heath's Conservative government was ambivalent and sought to persuade other countries to step in; but ultimately it accepted some 28,000 of the 80,000 people threatened with expulsion. Home Secretary Robert Carr's interview here feels rather guarded but concludes by trusting that the better instincts of British people will accept a UK moral responsibility. The London Television Service, was the in-house  news gathering service of Film Division. The item would have been presented to overseas television stations with a suggested script for local news readers.

1973 Northern Ireland- Recent History 
 
1974 Northern Ireland A Chance for Peace  looked at the work of the power sharing Executive in the areas of societal matters such as housing, economic growth and employment. It featured interviews with political leaders of all parties and vox-pops with members of the public. There is no further information about usage. 
 
1980 Zimbabwe Independence Day  celebrating this day that followed the elections organized by the UK government in the aftermath of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Southern Rhodesia and subsequent civil war. 
 
1980 ?Northern Ireland Chronicle is particularly interesting. Its production followed a request from the British Embassy in the USA for a film to counter IRA propaganda in the USA, that had become became known as the NORAID campaign. It was a successful campaign both in terms of raising funds for the IRA and sympathy for the Nationalist cause especially in Universities. The Embassy wished to have a film that could be used in universities either on its own or as part of a presentation by Embassy staff to counter the Nationalist IRA propaganda. 
 
Following some extensive research it was eventually agreed to produce a film which followed the history of events leading up to the establishment of Northern Ireland, the creation of the Civil Rights Movement and the violence which followed. It would chronicle the successive attempts of British Governments to find some form of agreement between the Unionist and Nationalist parties that would lead to a cessation of the conflict. It would set out, as objectively as possible, the reasons for the succession of failures to reach agreement. 
 
It was recognized that it was essential that the film would be seen to be as objective as possible, in setting out the events and to that end it was necessary that the tone of the film be calm and non-pejorative. 
 
The COI assembled historical footage to illustrate the narrative. Once the film was assembled together with narration, John Hall (then Deputy Director, Films Division) took the film to Washington where it was screened to the Ambassador, Nicholas Henderson, who approved it. 
 
On completion, the COI realised that the existence of the film would become known to the UK media where its credentials as an “objective” film would be closely scrutinized given the high profile of the Northern Ireland “troubles”. Rather than let knowledge of the film leak out, the COI laid on a screening of the film to which it invited the BBC and ITV, all the newspapers and London Correspondents of USA television networks together with representatives of European television companies.  
 
The film was presented as an attempt to present events as objectively as possible and comments were invited as to the whether the film succeeded as an objective account of events over the years. To the relief of the COI personnel involved in the film, no critical comment was forthcoming. Among the assembled media there appeared to be a consensus that the film was a fair account of events, moreover it was interesting that the existence of the film was in the event, hardly mentioned by the media. This would not have been the case had the film strayed from the path of objectivity. 
 
1982 Interview President Zia this was an interview with the President about the invasion of Afghanistan. Running time 27 minutes. It was offered to television stationsas an account by President Zia of the situation in Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion. 
 
1982 ? Afghanistan: fight For Freedom this was the first of a group of five 30 minute programs spread over 3 years following the progress of the war in Afghanistan. The series was produced by COI using existing footage shot by a variety of television companies. 
 
The purpose of this series appeared to be to offer an objective account of events that might have not been available or understood by television stations who had limited access to international news material or the resources to organize such programs. ​