Few Choices.

In the years when the United States remained officially neutral, the British, French, German, and Austrian governments rarely allowed their own reporters, let alone those representing neutral countries, to travel with their armies. It was difficult for writers to get access to the front or to get their stories past the official censors. Ernest Hemingway wrote, "The last war, during the years of 1915, 1916, 1917 was the most colossal, murderous, mismanaged butchery that has ever taken place on earth. Any writer who said otherwise lied. So the writers either wrote propaganda, shut up, or fought."

Winners Are More Accommodating.

The European belligerents worked hard to seduce reporters into writing favorable stories and to prevent them from writing unfavorable ones. At first the German army prevailed on the Western Front; while it did it allowed neutral reporters to observe battles and let them...