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Military Censorship

Military censorship, an aspect of governments during wartime, involves the direct restriction and control of various types of information distributed throughout media channels during armed conflicts. Fixed in the objective to safeguard military operations and a country's personnel from strategic compromises, it represents a temporary hold on the civil liberties of a country’s citizens to ensure national security. As noted by legal scholars, such measures become needed to prevent the disclosure to the public, and thereby to the enemy, of information with respect to the movement, numbers, description and disposition of any of the armed forces. This power to censor information from citizens of a country usually is owned by the commander-in-chief during a war and it tests the balance between freedom of the press and the necessities of national defense.

History

World War II

During World War II, military censorship was an important part of the United States’ efforts to maintain its national security. The reason this was done was to prevent information from getting leaked to the enemy, protect military missions, and keep the public happy by regulating information in the news. The government viewed censorship as an indispensable tool to protect national security and maintain the integrity of military strategies. The Office of Censorship was created very briefly after the United States entered World War II. It played an important part in implementing the various censorship policies in the United States. They often collaborated with military personnel to scrutinize and remove any information that would affect the war effort in a negative way. Censorship extended to all forms of communication, including mail, telephone calls, and personal conversations, ensuring that no sensitive information slipped through. The media outlets during this time were monitored and regulated heavily. Journalists, even the ones in military units, were told to follow a very strict set of guidelines. These reports that they would create were reviewed before they would ever be published and any sensitive information found would be altered or withheld.  "Journalists frequently found their reports heavily edited, as details about troop movements and battle outcomes were deemed too sensitive for public disclosure. Military censorship worked with the propaganda efforts to make the people happy. By controlling the information, the government was trying to alter the public’s view on the war. Censorship was not merely about withholding information; it was also about promoting a positive narrative that supported the war effort, often at the expense of full transparency.