Communication during the War

The first picture of dead American servicemen since Pearl Harbor.

Today I researched a little of what was going on in the home front. The PBS website had good information about communication during the war.

When I hear the word censorship I automatically think of communist countries like China or countries whose governments have more control over its people. I didn't know how much censorship there was in the United States during the war. Not only was there censorship in the newspapers, but government agencies and President Roosevelt himself played a leading role. All news was passed through the government controlled Office of War Information (OWI) and reporters felt an obligation to protect the public from grisly news or else a nationwide panic might ensue.

The people got their news primarily from radio broadcasts, newspapers and newsreels that preceded movies at the theaters. 50 million Americans watched newsreels each week to catch the latest on the war. As the war dragged on and Americans realized just how serious the war was people scanned the newspapers more frequently to see if anyone they knew had died.

It was only after two years of the fighting against Japan that the government allowed the release of pictures showing dead Americans in LIFE magazine at a beach in New Guinea.