NOTES
- The Capture of Tarawa from Japan, United News, Release 80, 1943, Films Media Group, Films on Demand, http://digital.films.com/PortalViewVideo.aspx?xtid=41484&loid=83924&psid=0&sid=0&State=&title=United%20News,%20Release%2080%20(1943):%20The%20Capture%20of%20Tarawa%20from%20Japan&IsSearch=Y&parentSeriesID=#.
- Daniel Czitrom, Media and the American Mind: From Morse to McLuhan (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983).
- Richard Butsch, “American Movie Audiences of the 1930s,” International Labor and Working-Class History 59 (2001):106–20.
- Michael Emery, Edwin Emery, and Nancy L. Roberts, The Press and America: An Interpretive History of the Mass Media (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000), 343–45.
- Miles Hudson and John Stanier, War and the Media (New York: New York University Press, 1998).
- Melissa A. Johnson, “Pre-Television Stereotypes: Mexicans in U.S. Newsreels, 1919–1932,” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 16, no. 4 (1999): 417–35.
- Scott L. Althaus, “The Forgotten Role of the Global Newsreel Industry in the Transition from Text to Television,” The International Journal of Press/Politics 15, no. 2 (2010): 193–218.
- Richard Abel, “Charge and Countercharge: ‘Documentary’ War Pictures in the USA, 1914–1916,” Film History 22, no. 4 (2010): 366–88.
- André Bazin, “On Why We Fight: History, Documentation, and the Newsreel (1946),” Film & History 30, no. 1 (2001): 60–62.
- George Roeder Jr., The Censored War: American Visual Experience During World War Two (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995).
- Thomas Doherty, Projections of War: Hollywood, American Culture, and World War II (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999).
- Bazin, “On Why We Fight.” This article discusses Why We Fight, a series of documentary war information films directed by Frank Capra that were produced to be shown to U.S. Army personnel during World War II, as an attempt to explain to them why they were fighting and the principles for which they were fighting. In total, seven films were produced for the series, many of which were eventually shown in American theaters and translated for use by other countries. The first film, Prelude to War, won an Academy Award for Best Documentary.
- Barbie Zelizer, “When War Is Reduced to a Photograph,” in Stuart Allen and Barbie Zelizer, eds., Reporting War: Journalism in Wartime (New York: Routledge, 2004): 115–35.
- Raymond Fielding, The American Newsreel: A Complete History, 1911–1967 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978).
- Cooper C. Graham and Ron van Dopperen, “Nelson Edwards and the Newsreels: An American Life,” Film History 24, no. 4 (2012): 260–80.
- Laurent Véray, “1914–1918, The First Media War of the Twentieth Century: The Example of French Newsreels,” Film History 22, no. 4 (2010): 406–25.
- Ibid.
- Véray, “1914-1918, The First Media War,” 423.
- Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Mechanical Reproduction,” in Hannah Arendt, ed., Illuminations: Essays and Reflections (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1968): 217–52.
- John Berger, Ways of Seeing (New York: Penguin, 1977).
- Michael Griffin, “Camera as Witness, Image as Sign: The Study of Visual Communication in Communication Research,” Communication Yearbook 24 (2001): 433–63.
- Michael Griffin, “Images from Nowhere: Visuality and News in 21st Century Media,” in Volker Depkat and Meike Zwingenberger, eds., Visual Cultures: Transatlantic Perspectives; Publications of the Bavarian American Academy Series (Heidelberg, Germany: Winter Publisher, 2012).
- Everett M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations, 5th ed. (New York: Free Press, 2003).
- Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: New York University Press, 2006).
- Many contemporary thinkers and theorists have attempted to analyze the institutional and cultural relationships that undergird media production. For contemporary examples, see Manuel Castells, Communication Power (New York: Oxford University Press); Nick Couldry Media, Society, World (New York: Polity Press, 2012); and Mark Deuze, Media Work (New York: Polity, 2007).
- Bruno Latour, We Have Never Been Modern (Boston: Harvard University Press, 1993).
- Ben H. Bagdikian, The Information Machines (New York: Harper Colophon, 1971).
- Noah Arceneaux, “News on the Air: The New York Herald, Newspapers, and Wireless Telegraphy, 1899–1917,” American Journalism 30, no. 2 (Spring 2013): 160–81.
- Gregory A. Borchard, Lawrence J. Mullen, and Stephen Bates, “From Realism to Reality: The Advent of War Photography,” Journalism & Communication Monographs 15, no. 2 (June 2013): 66–107.
- Couldry, “Media as Practice” in Media, Society, World, 33–58.
- For a more detailed, theoretically informed argument on the ways in which historical texts operate as the evidence of broader rationalities, see Amber Roessner, Rick Popp, Brian Creech, and Fred Blevins, “‘A Measure of Theory?’ Considering the Role of Theory in Media History,” American Journalism 30, no. 2 (Spring 2013): 260–78. In short, this essay supports the methodological impetus outlined by Roessner, et al., to consider the cultural and theoretical implications of media artifacts in not just their content, but also their conditions of existence as well as the broader regimes of truth and epistemological authority they represent.
- Richard Butsch, “American Movie Audiences of the 1930s,” International Labor and Working-Class History 59 (Spring 2001): 106–20.
- During the 1898 Spanish-American War, much of the footage released was not authentic, including E.H. Amet's re-creation of the sinking of Admiral Pascual Cervera's fleet in Santiago Bay, Cuba; after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, faked footage of a reconstructed set of the city, lighted on fire, was convincing enough to fool many; and much World War I newsreel coverage was faked.
- Raymond Fielding, The American Newsreel 1911–1967 (Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972).
- Leo A. Handel, Hollywood Looks at Its Audience (Champagne: University of Illinois Press), 170.
- Edgar Dale, “Need for Study of Newsreels,” Public Opinion Quarterly 1, no. 3 (July 1937): 122–25.
- Nathan S. Atkinson, “Newsreels as Domestic Propaganda: Visual Rhetoric at the Dawn of the Cold War,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 14, no. 1 (2011): 69–100. The video can be found at http://proxygsu-uga1.galileo.usg.edu/login?url=http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=8714&xtid=41852&loid=88850.
- Robert E. Herzstein, “Crisis on the Eastern Front, 1941–42: A Comparative Analysis of German and American Newsreel Coverage,” Film & History 13, no. 1 (1983): 1–11.
- Althaus, “The Forgotten Role of the Global Newsreel Industry,” 196.
- Ibid., 200.
- The authors could find nothing in their research to indicate any women shot film for newsreels in combat zones.
- “Mellett Is Named Film Coordinator,” New York Times, Dec. 24, 1941; “Davis Instructions on War News,” New York Times, July 11, 1942; and “Roosevelt Orders More War News,” New York Times, Sept. 8, 1943.
- Czitrom, Media and the American Mind, 30–50.
- John Beaufort, “African Campaign Bringing First Serious U.S. Newsreels,” Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 14, 1942, 9.
- “War Newsreels Here from the Finnish Front,” New York Times, Jan. 17, 1940; Hedda Hopper, “Mr. De Mille Explains How and Why,” Washington Post, Oct. 14, 1943; and George Gallup, “The Gallup Poll: Public Favors Publication of War Pictures Showing Dead and Wounded U.S. Soldiers,” Washington Post, Jan. 28, 1944.
- “Battle of Tarawa in Newsreels Today,” New York Times, Dec. 7, 1943.
- “Sensational News Pictures at Trans-Lux,” Washington Post, Feb. 9, 1942.
- “By Way of Report,” New York Times, March 26, 1944.
- Ibid.
- During the war, a raw film stock shortage began to limit the amount of film stock available to newsreel companies covering overseas action. When Warner Brothers Pictures vied to step into the newsreel field in 1942, for example, controversy was reported to have erupted because of this shortage, and the fact that the current five newsreel companies in operation were sufficient, resulting in the Allied States Association of Motion Picture Exhibitors calling on the War Production Board to restrain the film company. See “Fights Warner Newsreel: Allied States Group Urges WPB to Restrain Company,” New York Times, Nov. 23, 1942; later, in September 1944, the War Production Board amended Limitation Order L-178, further defining the limitations of film stock to the seventeen major motion picture and newsreel producers. See “WPB Puts Quotas on 35 MM. Film for Movie and Newsreel Producers,” Wall Street Journal, Sept. 21, 1944.
- Thomas M. Pryor, “Our Newsreel across the Seas,” New York Times, May 14, 1944.
- Nelson B. Bell, “First Invasion Films Ready for Release,” Washington Post, June 14, 1944.
- Bosley Crowther, “The Solemn Facts: Our Screen Faces a Responsibility to Show Newsreels and Similar Films,” New York Times, April 29, 1945.
- Often, reports of these newsreels as featurettes being played in theaters were common, whereby they would be listed along with feature films, or announced as arriving shortly. For example, a short article in the New York Times reported that the OWI announced that newsreels of the fighting on Tarawa and Makin Islands were en route to the United States, and that “they were knockouts.” See “Gilberts War Newsreels on Way,” New York Times, Dec. 4, 1943.
- Bosley Crowther, “The Screen: War in Russia,” New York Times, April 27, 1945.
- Ibid. This review does go into minor details of film construction, cutting German with U.S. footage in order to play out the narrative. Criticism of specific shots and overall structure of the film could be summarized as humdrum.
- Bosley Crowther, “Matters of Actual Fact,” New York Times, March 18, 1945.
- Ibid. While production companies during the war produced newsreels using shared footage, how these scenes were edited could be different. Here, Crowther explained how, in telling the story of Iwo Jima, Paramount “made an impressive point of the productive origins of the weapons; Pathe used music eloquently.” But all “made it boldly and graphically evident that Iwo was bloody and grim.”
- Bosley Crowther, “Statements of Fact: ‘Moscow Strikes Back’ as an Example of a Real War Information Film,” New York Times, Aug. 30, 1942.
- Ibid. Here, Crowther acknowledged a reel shot by future wartime Allies (in this case Russians on the front), but was sure to comment on the editorial process as being American. He gave a colorful account of the film. Also, his review was of an event that took place before the U.S. entered the war (this footage was from November 1941 while the entire Battle of Moscow took place between October 1941 and January 1942). Of all of Crowther's newsreel reviews analyzed, this one read more like a major motion picture review than a newsreel review.
- A total of eleven of the newsreel-related articles selected for this study were penned by Crowther, dating from August 1942 until May 1945, during which time he criticized, praised, and suggested the future of the American newsreel. Crowther also criticized the poor quality of wartime newsreel coverage. In his April 8, 1943 column in the Times he even held his critical ground after mentioning receiving comments from “unhappy Army men” who complained about his criticism. In the same article, Crowther applauded the excellent work of both British and Russian wartime documentaries, while also defending the use of a re-enacted scene in the British newsreel Desert Victory, an account of the Allied North African military campaign against Germany's Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and his army. In the end, however, Crowther suggested Desert Victory to be a film with the “careful, deliberate design to celebrate as effectively as possible the splendid triumph of a gallant fighting force.” See Bosley Crowther, “Front Line Films: The British Epic, ‘Desert Victory,’ Is a Striking Example of the Type,” New York Times, April 18, 1943.
- Bosley Crowther, “War-News Films: Contrasting ‘Attack! The Battle of New Britain’ and the Invasion Newsreels,” New York Times, June 25, 1944.
- Bosley Crowther, “For the Offensive: Further Word on the Showing of Fact Films in Theatres at This Time,” New York Times, May 13, 1945.
- Bosley Crowther, “The Solemn Facts: Our Screen Faces a Responsibility to Show Newsreels and Similar Films,” New York Times, April 29, 1945.
- For example, a short article on a captured Japanese airman who was filmed by American newsreel photographer Earle Crotchett both mentioned Crotchett by name and used him as a primary source for the article. See “Rare Shots Made as Captive Jap Pilot is Lured before Camera,” Washington Post, May 12, 1942.
- “Carrier in Action Inspires Observer: Newsreel Man aboard ‘Ghost’ off Marshall Isles Tells of Her Part in Fight,” New York Times, Feb. 14, 1942; and “U.S. Fleet Shows Its Mettle In Victory of Marshall Islands,” Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 13, 1942. The entire article, save for the lead paragraph, is likely a transcription of the narrative of the film that would be produced, based on the style of writing, which is not conversational, but along the lines of the way in which newsreels were narrated at the time.
- “Jerry” was an offensive term used for Germans during World War II.
- “Camera Man, Back from Orient, Says Time Is Not Ripe for Victory,” New York Times, May 1, 1942.
- Louis Berg, “They Shoot the War,” Atlanta Constitution, April 15, 1945.
- “U.S. Officer Praises War Correspondents,” New York Times, Aug. 27, 1944; and “War Reporters Lauded: Doing Vital Job, Davis Says,” Washington Post, April 15, 1943. In the Times, Colonel J.B.L. Lawrence, public relations officer of the United States Army in the European Theatre of Operations, was quoted as having paid tribute to American war correspondents and photographers in a radio address; in the Post, Elmer Davis, director of war information, was quoted as praising the efforts of war reporters, including newsreel men.
- “Pacific: Digging the News Camera Marksmen,” New York Times, Nov. 25, 1945.
- Ibid.
- “Fighter Reporters Ready for Action,” New York Times, July 26, 1942.
- “Camera Daredevil Killed in Europe,” New York Times, June 15, 1943; “Camera Man Killed at Sabang,” New York Times, Aug. 2, 1944; “U.S. Camera Man Killed,” New York Times, Sept. 24, 1944.
- Frederick Graham, “U.S. Camera Men to Film Invasion,” New York Times, April 11, 1944.
- Thomas M. Pryor, “Pacific Reporter: Don Senick, Fox Newsreel Photographer, Tells of Filming War, ‘Out There,’” New York Times, Feb. 11, 1945.
- Cecil Roberts, “War Pictures Bought with Blood,” Baltimore Sun, Sept. 20, 1942.
- Ibid.
- Thomas M. Pryor, “New Slant on the Newsreel,” New York Times, Feb. 25, 1945.
- Ibid.
- Leonard Spinrad, “The Also Served: How the Army's Anonymous but Intrepid Combat Camera Men Filmed the War,” New York Times, Sept. 2, 1945.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Kristen Heflin, “The Future Will Be Televised: Newspaper Industry Voices and the Rise of Television News,” American Journalism 27, no. 2 (Spring 2010): 87–110.
- Patricia L. Dooley, The Technology of Journalism: Cultural Agents, Cultural lcons (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 2007).
- Lisa Gitelmman, Always Already New: Media, History, and the Data of Culture (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2006).