War Correspondence

By: Charley Xi

Arthur ManNelson Lewis Jack Hyslop

World War One

• 1914-1918• Triple Entente V.S. Central Powers

The Media

• Media was the only source of information • No private media existed • Media in all countries were completely

controlled by Governments

• Passionate Reporters went to the front line• Reports from them were highly popular• Few reporters ever been to the real "Front Line”• All reporters were only permitted as far as

where the infirmary were• Only interviewed those who were wounded but

able to talk• Sincere reports were censored • Only optimistic reports were published

• Governments made sure citizens only knew what Governments want them to know

• Media printed headlines that provoked emotional responses; regardless true or false

Examples:• Belgium Child’s Hands Cut Of By Germans• Germans Crucify Canadian Officer

Governments’ Objective

• By depicting the enemy as inhuman, which rallied the "red blooded American male" Many patriots went to war in order to defend his family against the hordes of invaders.

• Stir up anger in order to provoke patriotic behavior—to encourage people to volunteer for the army

World War Two

• 1939- 1945• Fought between the Allies and the Axis

1939

• Media were still censored by the Government • Reporters who wanted to show the truth

formed and group known as the Correspondents

• The were the “Loose Media”• Successfully interview, photograph, and

publish the facts of the social life and the war of that time.

• One of the first and most famous Correspondents was— Margaret Bourke White

• She was an American photographer who was famous for her honest art work during WW2 and the Korean War She was one of the 1600 correspondents during WW2, only 127 were women

Women at War

• Women played a big role during WW2• They replaced men in many industries,

including warfare• Women were not treated equally

• Women gained Power• They were every where, even in the Military• Even gave name to their own Air Force—WAAF

Governments used women to Hire Soldiers

• The Governments were not afraid of the Correspondents, one of the reason was that they learnt how to provoke women to be used as “Propagandas”

Women craved For Power

• During WW2, women had power they have never possessed before

• They learnt that if men returned, their power will be gone.

• Government conveyed a huge amount of power to women, letting them enjoy all the privilege that enjoyed.

• Objective was to let them feel the fall of social status as much as possible.

• Therefore, women would and did encourage men to go back to war.

• Correspondents had only a little influence

• The objective of the Government was

Achieved

“As young men increasingly immured in the muck and blood of the battlefields, increasingly abandoned by the civilization of which they had ostensibly been heirs, women seemed to become, as if by some uncanny swing of history’s pendulum, ever more powerful.”

-----Vera Brittain

• How else can we explain that amazing outburst in August 1914, when the daughters of educated men who had been educated thus rushed into hospitals, some still attended by their maids, drove lorries, worked in fields and munitions factories, and used all their immense stores of charm, of sympathy, to persuade young men that to fight was heroic, and that the wounded in battle deserved all her care and all her praise? The reason lies in that same education. So profound was her unconscious loathing for the education of the private house with its cruelty, its poverty, its hypocrisy, its immorality, its inanity that she would undertake any task however menial, exercise any fascination however fatal that enabled her to escape. Thus consciously she desired 'our splendid Empire'; unconsciously she desired our splendid war.

--------Virginia Woolf

The Korean WarRepublic of Korea V.S. Democratic People’s of Korea and China

Brief Overview• 1950-1953• Between the Republic of Korea• Result of political division of Korea

War Correspondence• Media freedom was strict for fear of a more

intense war, as well as demoralizing Korean civilians

• However, some reporters were very “free” to do whatever they wanted

Leaflets• Leaflets, or flyers, were one

source of media that proved advantageous to, for example, the South Koreans

• They threatened the North Koreans

• They demoralized enemy troops• More importantly, they were to

give hope and confidence to the South Koreans

• Some quotes were, “good soilder-bad leaders”, “We shall give you every support.”

Broadcasts

• Very similar to leaflets• They also instilled fear among enemy troops• The messages reached a considerable amount

of audience, which stirred some opposition• Many Chinese enlisted men believed such

messages.

Outcome of media influence

• Leaflets proved effective at the end of the Korean War

• One in three Communist Chinese prisoners were compelled to surrender via the leaflets

Wilfred Burchett• A key reporter during the

Korean War• Often known for covering

news from the “other side” of the battlefield

• He had great bias in his reports

• Many of his facts, were actually fiction

• Fickle in his communications

• In a sense, he was a very “loose” form of media

Frank Gibney, Keyes Beech, Burton Crane

• Not much is about them• They were war correspondents who

reported on the rapid developments of war

• All three were together during the Korean War

• They had to retreat to safer spots in order to continue observing

• Unknowingly, they were to be part of one of the disasters of the Korean War

• Unlike Burchett, these three reported truthfully the events that occurred

• In Conclusion War Correspondents were always present during WW1, WW2 and the Korean War, and they all had profound influence on the War and people’s way of thought.

• Most risked their life for their passion of revealing to the outside world the Real War rather than the Virtual Wars the Media portrayed.