By all measures, war reporting came of age between 1939 and 1945. The global conflagration of World War II elicited a massive response from the free press around the world. In countries under repressive regimes, print journalism and radio continued as well, but their effectiveness was compromised by rigid central control and the dictates of party propaganda.

In the United States, newspapers and radio broadcasting were already covering the war in Europe beginning with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, and the declaration of war two days later by France and Great Britain. Likewise, in the Far East correspondents were fanning out to chronicle the territorial aggressions of Imperial Japan. Even though America did not go to war officially until after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the press was by that time deeply involved in reporting the impending conflict for...