THE days of a “free press” are over and support for alternative titles like the Morning Star is more important than ever, veteran journalist John Pilger said in a message marking 80 years since a ban was lifted on our predecessor, the Daily Worker.

A 18-month ban by edict of wartime home secretary Herbert Morrison — grandfather of Blairite guru Peter Mandelson — was formally lifted on August 26 1942, 80 years ago today, though the first post-ban edition did not issue until September 7.

It was the longest ban of a newspaper by government fiat in British history and prompted the formation of numerous local Daily Worker Defence Leagues to raise funds and campaign for its end, which finally came during the battle of Stalingrad as Morrison, a Labour minister in Winston Churchill’s national government, feared a humiliating vote against it at that autumn’s TUC.

The newspaper’s campaigning against government incompetence and indifference to civilian deaths during the early stages of the war had prompted the ban, which Morrison had claimed was necessary on national security grounds.

Mr Pilger congratulated the Morning Star on continuing to publish 80 years later.

“It is ironic that the term ‘free press’ is still used, when the ‘mainstream’ is dominated by an extremist government’s friends and those who comply and censor by omission,” he said.

“There is no free press. The days of maverick, independent-minded journalists going against a consensus of state propaganda — even applauded for doing so — are gone.

“The Morning Star is the honourable exception. Voices unheard in the media are heard in the Star; the priorities of real news, in matters of war and peace, missing in what used to be called Fleet Street are heard in the Star, which tells its readers about another Britain: a Britain of struggle and resistance.

“Honourable indeed. Congratulations to the Morning Star on this important anniversary.”

The Morning Star will mark the anniversary in this weekend’s edition warning of the creeping censorship which is silencing anti-Establishment narratives, especially online, carrying articles on the history of the ban and on the state of media freedom today.