No abstract

When the federal government in 1942 forced Japanese Americans into “relocation centers,” camp officials allowed them to publish newspapers “freely,” under “supervision,” without “censorship.” In reality, however, the camp press was hardly “free.” Newspapers published under governmental auspices were inevitably subject to various types of editorial interference. The camp authority's “supervision” took various forms, including pre- and post-publication reviews, selective staff employment, convocation of “meetings,” supplying of news and propaganda material, and even direct and coercive editorial interference that officials themselves admitted to be “censorship.” Camp officials also elicited self-restraint from staffers, making strict supervision or censorship unnecessary.

This study investigates how the War Relocation Authority (WRA) formulated newspaper publishing policy in Japanese-American camps during World War II. The WRA allowed evacuees to publish their own newspapers “freely” without “censorship” but under the authority's “supervision.” This study uses archival documents of the WRA and other concerned governmental agencies and examines development of the “free under supervision” press policy. The study shows that the federal government used camp newspapers to convince the domestic and international public that “democracy” was fully protected within camps.

No abstract

During World War II, federal officials used the Japanese “enemy language” press to pacify Japanese Americans and facilitate mass incarceration. While making efforts to preserve the press as a symbol of American democracy, the Office of Facts and Figures, and later the Office of War Information, sought to use it as a messenger of governmental news and views, as a morale builder among Japanese Americans, and as a defense against Axis propaganda from abroad.