Great war leaders' successful media strategies for business: how Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John Curtin won journalists' support

At the height of the Pacific war, the American and Australian leaders communicated successfully with journalists, providing valuable business strategies on how to develop positive media relations in crises. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in December 1941, the United States President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Australian Prime Minister, John Curtin, generated favorable news coverage about their leadership. Yet there is a lack of information on their media strategies to win journalists' support in a time of crisis. This paper shows how Roosevelt and Curtin managed to influence and persuade the news media. First, they frequently communicated to journalists in an honest, egalitarian and friendly way, increasing the number of regular news briefings between the press and the national leader. Secondly, they advanced the relatively new medium of radio to broadcast appealing, inclusive and accessible messages. Journalists repeated and amplified their radio talks in the news. Thirdly, they used practiced, forceful rhetoric and hand gestures in filmed newsreel scenes to convey their resolve and create the appearance of a direct, friendly relationship with their target audiences. These media strategies are still useful to business leaders when managing information needs in today's 24-hour news cycle

Personalising politics in a global crisis: the media communication techniques of John Curtin and Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Pacific War, 1941-45

During their Pacific war alliance, Curtin and Roosevelt expanded the national leader’s use of the media to symbolise a more public persona of governance that involved citizens in crisis discussions. While the ‘personalisation of politics’ is a growing scholarly topic, there is a lack of research on the two leaders’ use of relatively new media to evoke perceptions of their direct communications with publics during this conflict. Although they benefited from censorship, this study of their communication techniques reveals insights into how political leaders have framed media rhetoric and camera imagery to convey their administrations as increasingly inclusive public spaces

Media rhetoric of human rights©

This unique case study reveals journalists’ roles in portraying the rhetoric of United States President Barack Obama and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard as they signaled an end to their military alliance in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013

Curtin’s Circus : the Prime Minister and Canberra news correspondents, 1941-1945

While the Australian wartime Prime Minister, John Curtin, has been the subject of intensive biographical and historical material, particularly during World War II, very few publications have focused on his relationships with journalists. Certainly, there is a distinct absence of a comprehensive study of his mass media strategies that would give us a detailed insight into his leadership in a critical period. Major forces converged with the commencement of another global war, the rapid expansion of relatively new radio and film industries, along with the appointment as prime minister of a skilful Labor communicator, well-known for his passionately anti-conscription views during World War I.This thesis investigates Curtin’s success in persuading the predominantly conservative news media to promote his wartime views. First, it identifies the prime minister’s mass media strategies to influence the Canberra Parliamentary Press Gallery journalists and their editors to accept his wartime policies and portray them positively in the media.The thesis argues that Curtin revealed a genius for initiating, developing and overseeing mass media strategies that made the best use of the latest technology to persuade journalists to communicate his government’s policies. In doing so, he extended the Australian public sphere, and his impact on political communications remains evident today. Curtin also bestowed a permanent legacy to benefit the parliamentary press gallery, contributing to our understanding of contemporary political journalism

Unmasking codes of power: expanding the relatively new media to escalate war, 1941-45

Abstract: As wartime leaders, Australian Prime Minister John Curtin and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt expanded film communication technologies and practices to develop codes of language signifying their personal relationships with target audiences to win endorsement for escalating the Pacific conflict. Despite the gaps in the literature of the Curtin and Roosevelt newsreels, an investigation of their visual and oral performances reveals they used the relatively new media disingenuously to appear that they were involving citizens in their Pacific decisions. This paper conducts a new semiotic comparison of rarely viewed samples of unscreened and public newsreels to show how the two leaders created rehearsed images of their close friendships with mass audiences. Although they appeared to inform and engage citizens, they selectively used film propaganda and censorship to influence public perceptions of their nations’ military roles in the Pacific battles from 1941 to 1945. Through the cinematic depictions, news film teams accomplished what Michel Foucault later described as masking power, divisive struggles and governmental tensions. The expanding wartime media provided opportunities for Curtin and Roosevelt to restructure social cinema spaces, increasingly encouraging audiences to view the national leader in an equal relationship with citizens. Few broadcast journalists challenged the two leaders’ image manipulations and they cooperated to replicate homespun messages of Curtin and Roosevelt as interacting with “the people” that resonated with wartime listeners, cinema audiences and radio magazine readers. Although the use of communication technologies has developed unevenly with successive Australian and US governments, more democratic leaders have used the relatively new media to interact with citizens by appearing more ordinary than extraordinary, showing their rapport with voters. This historical analysis indicates a continuing need for journalists to delve beyond the relatively new forms of political leaders’ communications and create substantive discussions for an informed, engaged citizenry.

Staking out Australia's 'effective voice' in the world: John Curtin and the war correspondents, 1941-1945©

To raise global awareness of Australia's role in Pacific conflicts, World War II Prime Minister John Curtin elicited Allied journalists' cooperation to publicise remarkably unrestrained commentaries during the censorship era. This paper reveals new insights into Curtin's development of the correspondents' bases as instruments of public diplomacy to persuade the other Allies to involve Australia in the war planning and peace negotiations. Through a rare analysis of confidential cables, secret news talks, radio chats and unscreened newsreels, this paper shows that these journalists worked with Curtin for more Allied recognition of Australia rather than reporting independently on different battle zones

Representing Trust in Digital Journalism

This article examines how journalists at two prominent news organizations have aimed to portray trustworthy digital reporting of marginalized communities. The case study draws on the concepts of engagement and trust as a resource to evaluate journalists' articles and the related audience comments on The New York Times and The Washington Post digital sites. This study analyzed the digital news articles and audience comments in 2012 and the latter half of 2022 during the rapid expansion of mobile audiences and American readers' declining trust in newspapers. As this study discovered, journalists at the two legacy organizations have portrayed novel forms of reporting relating to fresh notions of enhancing readers' trust as well as elements of transparency and interactivity in the news. They have represented trustworthy journalism based on an inclusive approach and personalized depictions of marginalized communities' experiences to appeal to readers increasingly using mobile devices. Although the journalists' stories attracted some toxic tweets, their articles also encouraged digital subscribers' loyalty and enthusiasm to help solve the reported problems affecting marginalized communities. This study indicates the possibilities of fostering trustworthy interactions among journalists and engaged subscribers in digital news spaces

War secrets: how an Australian Prime Minister developed investigative journalism techniques, 1941-1945

During escalating Pacific crises, the former journalist and Australian Prime Minister John Curtin confided war secrets to a select circle of reporters to elicit media support for his leadership in World War II. Although his briefings appeared astonishingly indiscreet, there are research gaps on how Curtin selectively developed journalistic techniques, including off-the-record talks and news leaks, to influence the media portrayal of Australia’s role in the Pacific war. This paper uses secret wartime diaries, confidential cables and unscreened newsreels to reveal Curtin’s ability to win press support for his controversial decision to bring home the nation’s troops from Burma battles in 1942. He expanded the political correspondents’ roles as instruments of public diplomacy to sway Allied public opinion towards supporting Australian defence. While he benefited from censorship, he legitimised the use of candid press relations that opened more opportunities for the growth of investigative reporting of Australia’s involvement in war

History is theatre: the secrets to the success of the Curtin and Roosevelt mass media strategies, 1941-5

The notion that '[h]istory is theatre' affirms the importance of studying films and other cultural products. This paper delves into rarely viewed press, film, and radio archives to discover the groundbreaking mass media strategies developed by the wartime Australian Prime Minister John Curtin, and United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to persuade journalists and public audiences to support their alliance during World War II (hereafter 'the war')

Read all about it: John Curtin's key to generating positive news coverage, 1941-1945

As a forceful orator, skilful writer and former hard-hitting journalist, Australia's wartime Prime Minister, John Curtin, led significant innovations that transformed the nation's media and created a legacy in political communications. Yet a major gap exists in the literature about Curtin's use of the mass news media to secure popular support for his World War II initiatives. The proposed conference paper aims to take his journalism strategies away from the academic margins. I will investigate the following question: How did Curtin achieve such success in his management of the news media? The paper will focus on this Prime Minister's groundbreaking initiatives in the press, film and radio broadcasts. My research will be located in the field of scholarship developed by John Curtin historians such as Bobbie Oliver and David Black, political scientist Chris Hubbard, as well as based on the theories of journalism experts Steve Mickler and David Pyvis. Within this context, the paper will argue that Curtin was a brilliant media strategist due to his persuasive skills in influencing reporters to support his foreign policies, providing valuable lessons for managing information needs during global conflicts