Book - Fordham University Press

Reporting World War II

    Editors:
  • G. Kurt Piehler
  • Ingo Trauschweizer
| 2023

Overview

This set of essays offers new insights into the journalistic process and the pressures American front-line reporters experienced covering World War II. Transmitting stories through cable or couriers remained expensive and often required the cooperation of foreign governments and the American armed forces. Initially, reporters from a neutral America documented the early victories by Nazi Germany and the Soviet invasion of Finland. Not all journalists strove for objectivity. During her time reporting from Ireland, Helen Kirkpatrick remained a fierce critic of that country's neutrality. Once the United States joined the fight after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, American journalists supported the struggle against the Axis powers, but this volume will show that reporters, even when members of the army sponsored newspaper, Stars and Stripes were not mere ciphers of the official line.

Reporting World War II Cover Image

African American reporters Roi Ottley and Ollie Stewart worked to bolster the morale of Black GIs and undermined the institutional racism endemic to the American war effort. Women front-line reporters are given their due in this volume examining the struggles to overcome gender bias by describing triumphs of Thérèse Mabel Bonney, Iris Carpenter, Lee Carson, and Anne Stringer.

The line between public relations and journalism could be a fine one as reflected by the U.S. Marine Corps' creating its own network of Marine correspondents who reported on the Pacific island campaigns and had their work published by American media outlets. Despite the pressures of censorship, the best American reporters strove for accuracy in reporting the facts even when dependent on official communiqués issued by the military. Many wartime reporters, even when covering major turning points, sought to embrace a reporting style that recorded the experiences of average soldiers. Often associated with Ernie Pyle and Bill Mauldin, the embrace of the human-interest story served as one of the enduring legacies of the conflict.

Despite the importance of American war reporting in shaping perceptions of the war on the home front as well as shaping the historical narrative of the conflict, this work underscores how there is more to learn. Readers will gain from this work a new appreciation of the contribution of American journalists in writing the first version of history of the global struggle against Nazi Germany, imperial Japan, and fascist Italy.

Contributor(s): Steven Casey, Kendall Cosley, Douglass Daniel, Alan Delozier, Carolyn Edy, Karen Garner, Larry Greene, Alexander Lovelace, Nathaniel L. Moir, Henry Oinas-Kukkonen, G. Kurt Piehler, James Austin Sandy, Victoria Sotvedt and Ingo Trauschweizer

Series: World War II: The Global, Human, and Ethical Dimension

Chapter by Belfer Center Author: "When the Shooting Stopped: Justice and Journalism at Nuremberg" by Nathaniel L. Moir.

About This Book

Reporting World War II cover crop

Reporting World War II
G. Kurt Piehler Ingo Trauschweizer
More Information
For more information on this publication: Please contact International Security
For Academic Citation: Reporting World War II. Edited by G. Kurt Piehler and Ingo Trauschweizer. Fordham University Press, 2023.
304
.

The Editors

G. Kurt Piehler

Ingo Trauschweizer

Recommended
In the Spotlight
RSS
How important is saving face in a nation’s major decision-making? Sahar Nowrouzzadeh examines the role of face-saving measures in reaching the Iran nuclear deal in 2015.
Instigating a race between the U.S., China, and others to meet climate financing needs of countries in Africa and elsewhere will catapult us to a new level of climate action, writes Meghan O'Sullivan.
Using the influential Belfer Center journal “International Security” as an example, Sean Lynn-Jones explores ways articles can influence national security policy by advancing new or challenging old ideas.
Most Viewed