Mamonova Yulia O.,
Institute of History of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Censors and Military Correspondents in Manchuria in 1904–1905: Hardships of Interaction
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2019-6-7
The article is devoted to the study of problematic aspects of interaction between military censorship and representatives of the Russian and foreign press in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. The research is based on the materials of military correspondents, citizens of Russia, France, German, Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, published after their authors left the theater of war, as well as on the archival documents of the foreign and military departments of Russia. Particular attention is paid to the peculiarities of the system of managing military correspondents noted by journalists, which complicated significantly their professional activities at the theater of the Russo-Japanese War. It was established that, despite the series of severe restrictive measures undertaken by the military censorship bodies, the cleverest military correspondents still found ways to get around them. A thorough check of journalists for reliability and the time-consuming process of censoring texts sent to the editorial office could not guarantee the absence of gross violations of regulations, big incidents, conflicts and leakage of confidential information. The article discusses ways to evade censorship rules restricting freedom of movement and correspondence of journalists in Manchuria, as well as measures to counter these violations. Attempts of the censors department, reorganized during the war, to follow the constantly changing regulations, numerous instructions of the General Staff and desire not to oppress the episodically protesting journalists influenced the censors' behavior. According to the war correspondents, censorship officers were not always logical – some journalists were prohibited from doing certain things, while others were permitted to do them. The author also reveals a correlation between suppression measures against journalists and the degree of benevolence of their further correspondences, which acquired special significance under these conditions.
Publishing: 30/12/2019
How to cite: Mamonova Yu.O. Censors and Military Correspondents in Manchuria in 1904–1905: Hardships of Interaction // Historical Courier, 2019, No 6 (8). P. 86–94. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2019/ISTKURIER-2019-6-07.pdf
Links: Issue 6 2019
Keywords: Russo-Japanese war of 1904–1905; war correspondents; war journalism; military censorship