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Reporting from the Front: War Reporters During the Great War Brian Best

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Reporting from the Front: War Reporters During the Great War By Brian Best

Reporting from the Front: War Reporters During the Great War by Brian Best


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Summary

WW1 changed the nature of war reporting. This book examines how the government censored war reports and analyses the changing role of war correspondents.

Reporting from the Front: War Reporters During the Great War Summary

Reporting from the Front: War Reporters During the Great War by Brian Best

When the war was declared in August 1914, one of the first acts to be implemented by the politicians and military was a strict censorship on the newspapers. As the poacher turned gamekeeper, Winston Churchill said: The war is going to be fought in a fog and the best place for correspondence about the war is London, The military sought to have one of their officers, dubbed "Eyewitness", to be the official spokesman to enable them to control what the newspapers could print. In the early stages of the war, there were many reporters on the Continent who were evading military arrest and sending back reports about the reality of the situation. Several volunteered with the various ambulance services just to disguise their real purpose, but all were eventually banished. Having finally cleared all reporters from fighting area, the military was persuaded to allow a small number of accredited war reporters to be chaperoned around the battle fronts. They were closely watched and their reports thoroughly scrutinised, until they eventually became almost a part of the Headquarters hierarchy. Later, diaries and letters revealed how many of them really felt and they had to bear the post-war shame of not writing the truth. The Western Front was not the only front in this world war. Reporters found censorship less rigidly applied on the Eastern Front, Palestine and Italy. One correspondent, whose reports famously brought about the sacking of the campaign commander and the ending of the fruitless and bloody Gallipoli Expedition, bravely broke ranks and was finished as a war reporter. War reporting was not confined to print. The emergence of photographers and cinematographers on the battlefield has left us with an extraordinary record. Unlike their writing brothers, the photographers could get close to the action and shoot what they liked. The resultant film was, of course, censored but thankfully nothing was discarded and museum archives are full of their stunning work. Having been the pre-war stars of their newspapers, the war reporters experienced a post-war wave of anger and cynicism which took years to overcome.

About Brian Best

Brian Best has an honours degree in South African History and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He was the founder of the Victoria Cross Society 2002 and edits its Journal. He also lectures about the Victoria Cross and War Art. His previous books include: The Curling Letters of the Zulu War (2001), Secret Letters from the Railway (2004), which has been republished in 2014 under the title of Burma Railway Man and Sister Janet (2006) - all published by Pen and Sword. He is married and lives in Rutland.

Additional information

GOR009123515
9781473821170
1473821177
Reporting from the Front: War Reporters During the Great War by Brian Best
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
2015-02-01
224
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

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