A Day Which Will Live in Infamy: An Analysis of Post-Pearl Harbour Censorship and its Applicability to Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s Propaganda Model

Abstract

This research paper attempts to apply Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky\u27s propaganda model to the censorship practices implemented in the United States directly following the December 7th, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbour. Herman and Chomsky\u27s model, as outlined in their 1988 work, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, outlines the five filters that raw materials of the press must proceed through before disseminating to the public. With this in mind, this paper argues that while the model\u27s core filters are evident in post-Pearl Harbour media, they require adaptions to fit the unique wartime circumstances. Censorship during this period was a flexible and strategically crafted tool and effort that reflected the United States government priorities, as demonstrated by Byron Price and the Office of Censorship, the cooperation between the government and mass media, the use of propaganda to rally support from the American public, and the demonization of the Japanese people.