[2] With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the paper took an anti-Franco stance and sent three correspondents to Spain in 1936-37: Denis Weaver, who was captured and nearly shot before being released; Arthur Koestler (to Málaga);[4] and, later, Geoffrey Cox[4] (to Madrid).
The paper's editorial staff took an active part in campaigning for the release of Koestler, who was captured by Franco's forces at the fall of Málaga and was in imminent danger of being executed.
In his autobiography Koestler notes that en route to Palestine he had stopped in Athens and had clandestine meetings with Communists and Liberals opposing the then Metaxas dictatorship, but the News Chronicle refused to publish his resulting strongly worded anti-Metaxas articles.
[6] In 1956, the News Chronicle opposed the UK's military support of Israel in invading the Suez canal zone, a decision which cost it circulation.
[1][3] The News Chronicle's editorial position was considered at the time to be in broad support of the British Liberal Party, in marked contrast to that of the Daily Mail.