Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-03-28
War News Censorship

n ENE,RAL MACARTHUR. in addition being
VI capable military commander, Is obviously very
good Judge Of human nature.
His recent observations the subject of war news
censorship reflect that good judgment
In fact he has said almost the first intelligent thing
about war censorship that has emerged from an official
American source since Pearl Harbor
Informing press representatives in Australia that
y main purpose is to suppress but to get news
for you" General Macarthur went on to say:
THE reason for efforts b., the United States and
Australia to inform the public what is going on is that
II ii does not Know the truth. its imagination operates
thereby reducing confidence.
"Slence will bcgn TO react against YOU. II there
fore is a crime. Ii is important that the public should
be told il can confidence and determination
of purpose in support of the war effort
lone cannot wage under present conditions
without the support of public opinion
Men will not fight and die without knowing what
they fighting and dying fol.
MANY recent events have proved that the time has
lYl come for the hele system ct American censor
ship to be reeXaminod and revised, with what General
Macarthur says guide
Prevailing army and navy policy is exactly contrary
to what he says.
case point the story just released, of the
thrilling of 80 trapped for SO hours aboard
the sunken American battleship Oklahoma.
Here amazing story of American peril,
courage herosm and Initiative. Why such story
withheld from the American people for nearly four
months What possible military significance there to
the story from the standpoint of information Of value
the enemy?
Another point is the story of the brilliant
American naval assaults Wake and Marcus islands.
Why did the American people have to wait many
weeks for official accounts of these actions?
The japanese authorities reported them at the time.
The Japanese knew what happened, and the extent
of their losses
What American military advantage was ganed-by
keeping the American people in ignorance?
CI4ENCE of that nature is precisely what General Mac
~ Arthur says is-an incation to Imagination with
public confusion and loss of confidence the penalties.
Anybody see that yet it is inadvisabe to
tell the japanese what American naval task forces were
employed in the Wake and Marcus actions where they
came from and where they went
The japanese should surely be made to guess about
purely military matters-and to guess wrong if possible
But fetish should not be made of secrecy, for the
sheer sake of secrecywh bewildermen and Illustration
of the American people the sole result.
A MEXICAN armed forces want to know what they are
A fighting and dying for General Macarthur Saws.
And the American people a whole want to know
what is going and want the thrills and inspiration
dervabe from stirring events when they happen and not
weeks and months later and secrecy about such
events is exactly what General Macarthur calls ia
GRIM.
Censorship is essential war measure but it should
be exclusively employed against the enemy, and
device for American befuddlement
The American people like to think they are the best
informed people involved in this war and not the most
poorly informed-but the American who sat on
the lid of the about the Oklahoma for four
hS tle 10 tho+,i