ABSTRACT
The performance of the Second World War correspondents is interpreted in different ways. Military-media relations during the so-called ‘phoney war’ in which news was scarce, competition intense and censorship tight were acrimonious. The fighting on the Russian front also went largely unreported, despite some of the most decisive engagements of the war such as the battle of Kursk. The war in the Pacific consisted primarily of naval battles, long-distance bombing of strategic targets and a gruelling island-hopping campaign fought by United States Marines. The reporting of the Second World War was multimedia with the pre-eminence of print correspondents challenged by those working in radio, film and photography. The War Department stipulated that women correspondents ‘could go no further than women’s services go’ and any woman in the warzone must be accompanied by an officer of at least the rank of lieutenant colonel.
