analyse the effect of the use of censorship by the australian government during world war 2 on Australian society.
Censorship refers to the process of removing material deemed
unsuitable for moral, military or political reasons from mass media including
books, films, news reports and letters. The Australian government used
censorship and propaganda extensively throughout World War 2, establishing the
Department of Information to handle this. The purpose of censorship was to
ensure that the morale of the Australian public was relatively unscathed
throughout the war, and to prevent the transmission of information that could
benefit the enemy.
Propaganda often had slogans such as ‘We’ve always despised them – now we must smash them’, widening the gap between Australians and their opposition, creating nationalistic pride and racism that fuelled the war effort.
In reality, the strict censorship of Australia’s radio and film industries and press ignited mistrust for government information within Australian society. The government could delude the majority of Australia with their rectified statistics, such as reducing the number of casualties as a result of the bombing of Darwin to 17 instead of 243, and emphasise victories. The Australian public were vaguely aware of censorship as the war progressed; especially those receiving personal letters from servicemen noticed the seemingly perennial optimism and lack of information that could identify their unit’s location.
In April 1944, several newspapers revealed the extent of censorship to the Australian public en masse. This was sparked by the Daily Telegraph getting retribution from the government for attempting to publish blank spaces in their paper to demonstrate the censorship of articles unfavourable towards the government. In protest, the Sydney Morning Herald, Sun, Daily Mirror and Daily Telegraph published uncensored editions of their articles. All copies of these articles were confiscated by the Commonwealth Police.
These notorious incidents of oppressed free speech confirmed the suspicions of the Australian public that their basic rights were violated. In response to overwhelming public support and push from newspapers, the Australian High Court deemed the censorship actions of the government to be too authoritarian. Censorship was subsequently eased somewhat, but doubt had manifested itself within the public.
http://dl.nfsa.gov.au/module/163/#background
http://resources.mhs.vic.edu.au/history/warquest.html#daily
http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-14_u-91_t-201_c-673/censorship-and-propaganda/nsw/censorship-and-propaganda/australia-and-world-war-ii/government-control
http://www.ozatwar.com/civilian/censors.htm
Propaganda often had slogans such as ‘We’ve always despised them – now we must smash them’, widening the gap between Australians and their opposition, creating nationalistic pride and racism that fuelled the war effort.
In reality, the strict censorship of Australia’s radio and film industries and press ignited mistrust for government information within Australian society. The government could delude the majority of Australia with their rectified statistics, such as reducing the number of casualties as a result of the bombing of Darwin to 17 instead of 243, and emphasise victories. The Australian public were vaguely aware of censorship as the war progressed; especially those receiving personal letters from servicemen noticed the seemingly perennial optimism and lack of information that could identify their unit’s location.
In April 1944, several newspapers revealed the extent of censorship to the Australian public en masse. This was sparked by the Daily Telegraph getting retribution from the government for attempting to publish blank spaces in their paper to demonstrate the censorship of articles unfavourable towards the government. In protest, the Sydney Morning Herald, Sun, Daily Mirror and Daily Telegraph published uncensored editions of their articles. All copies of these articles were confiscated by the Commonwealth Police.
These notorious incidents of oppressed free speech confirmed the suspicions of the Australian public that their basic rights were violated. In response to overwhelming public support and push from newspapers, the Australian High Court deemed the censorship actions of the government to be too authoritarian. Censorship was subsequently eased somewhat, but doubt had manifested itself within the public.
http://dl.nfsa.gov.au/module/163/#background
http://resources.mhs.vic.edu.au/history/warquest.html#daily
http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-14_u-91_t-201_c-673/censorship-and-propaganda/nsw/censorship-and-propaganda/australia-and-world-war-ii/government-control
http://www.ozatwar.com/civilian/censors.htm
Evaluate whether the abuse of the rights of the public through the use of censorship was justified.
As Australia was, and remains, a democratic society, the
strict use of censorship during World War 2 was not justified. As defined in http://moadoph.gov.au/democracy/defining-democracy/,
a democracy is based on legitimacy, justice, freedom and power.
Legitimacy, in terms of the government, refers to the ability to provide things for the ultimate betterment of the public. Through the use of censorship in World War 2, the Australian government abused their authority to obscure the reality of the war from the public eye. Arguably, this attempted to maintain public morale. This would allow civilian efforts towards the war (for example, working in munitions factories) to continue as they still maintained hope for those on the war front. However, this manipulation was unethical – nearly all forms of media were censored by the government, allowing them to embed their beliefs into society. Knowledge is power. Under censorship, the public was deprived of their right to knowledge. Instead, they were presented with falsifications that they were expected to be able to trust, giving the government power over them.
Furthermore, freedom of speech was repressed through the censorship of media with negative attitudes towards the government. Whilst all citizens have responsibilities to adhere to (for example, to not say anything libellous), censorship violates this basic human right by regulating communication, preventing the transmission of opinion in a wide scale.
Legitimacy, in terms of the government, refers to the ability to provide things for the ultimate betterment of the public. Through the use of censorship in World War 2, the Australian government abused their authority to obscure the reality of the war from the public eye. Arguably, this attempted to maintain public morale. This would allow civilian efforts towards the war (for example, working in munitions factories) to continue as they still maintained hope for those on the war front. However, this manipulation was unethical – nearly all forms of media were censored by the government, allowing them to embed their beliefs into society. Knowledge is power. Under censorship, the public was deprived of their right to knowledge. Instead, they were presented with falsifications that they were expected to be able to trust, giving the government power over them.
Furthermore, freedom of speech was repressed through the censorship of media with negative attitudes towards the government. Whilst all citizens have responsibilities to adhere to (for example, to not say anything libellous), censorship violates this basic human right by regulating communication, preventing the transmission of opinion in a wide scale.