Managing the Media in the India-Burma War, 1941-1945

Description

This book explores how the media was used by the armed forces during the India-Burma campaigns of WWII to project the most positive image to domestic and international audiences of a war that often seemed neglected or misunderstood. Discussing how soldiers were, for the first time, able to access newspapers and radio broadcasts relating stories of the campaigns they were actively fighting in, Managing the Media in the India-Burma War reveals not only the impact that the media had in maintaining troop morale, but how the military recognised that the media could be a valuable arm of warfare.
Revealing how troops responded to reports of their operations, Philip Woods demonstrates the role of the media in creating the ‘Forgotten Army’ syndrome, which came about in the last two years of the Burma campaign. Focusing on the British Media, but with examples from the United States and India, including Indian war correspondents, it discusses India’s role in the Second World War in relation to social, economic and political developments at the time. Honing in on India and Burma at a turning point in their road to independence, this book offers a fresh angle on a well-known military conflict, unpicks the various constraints and influences on the media in wartime, and links the campaign to India’s crucial role in WWII.

Philip Woods is Distinguished Research Fellow and part-time lecturer at New York University, London, UK. He has previously taught at University of West London and Kingston University, UK.

Introduction
1. Media Covering the War in India/Burma
2. Managing the Media in the Burma Retreat, 1942
3. The First Arakan Campaign, 1943
4. Media Coverage of Operation Longcloth
5. Mountbatten Takes Charge- Publicity and Censorship
6. Reporting the War, 1944
7. Allies of a Kind: PROs at War
8. Broadcasting: the BBC, All India Radio and Radio SEAC
9. Stepping up Publicity for the 14th Army
10. SEAC Film & Photography
11. Race to Rangoon and Victory, 1945
Conclusion

“This is a fabulous, illuminating and much-needed book, revealing the long and complex Burma Campaign through the previously unexplored lens of those in the media who at the time wished to tell its story, and those in authority who wanted to control what was said, and how.” —Robert Lyman PhD, FRHistS, Research Fellow, Changing Character of War Centre, Pembroke College, University of Oxford, UK“Woods has written a fine book. Meticulously researched and cogently argued, it is a must read for anyone interested in the Second World War and military-media relations.” —Steven Casey, Professor of International History, LSE, UK“This unique study of the media dimensions of the Burma campaign adds enormous value, employing original material to explain reportage from defeat to eventual triumph. It describes constraints on journalists and political considerations shaping their access on the ground, and the use of the media for morale purposes among imperial troops.” —Ashley Jackson, Professor of Imperial and Military History, King’s College London and Visiting Fellow, Kellogg College Oxford, UK“Philip Woods is one of the finest media historians of his generation. His brilliant book is delicately balanced, elegant, penetrating and meticulously researched. Woods holds to account squabbling politicians, journalists, propagandists, army generals and private soldiers. His saga of truth, lies, and the fog of war has become highly topical.” —Michael Leigh, Research Associate, SOAS University of London, UK

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