JAP CENSORSHIP

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 61, 13 March 1942, Page 4

JAP CENSORSHIP

RIGID SYSTEM USED IRON MUZZLE ON ALL 'NEWSPAPERMEN This is the fifth of James R. Young's series of “inside Japan” articles, which are being- published in the “Chronicle.” Young, who was in Japan for 13 years, tells about the rigid system cf censorship the Japanese authorities e .ercised over foreign correspondents. Young; a famous American journalist, has a first-hand knowledge of this. He was gaoled in 1940 by the Jap Gestapo for disseminating news “injurious to Japan.” the American gunboat Panay was sunk near Nanking by Japanese aviators on i)eeenibei’ 12. 1937, I was advised privately by Washington that President Roosevelt might radioteh phone direct to the Emperor. I asked one of the Foreign Office spokesmen. Viscount. Motono, how such a call would he handled. He replied: “God Cannot Be Disturbed.” I had been long enough in Japan to realise the significance oi God-Em-peror worship. I also realised the headline .significance of such a statement, but knew it was not exactly what, he wanted to say. Later I gathered that any call from the White House would bring panic to the Imperial Household in Tokio. There was no precedent. Nothing in the Book of Rules. It was easy to imagine the consternation that would ensue, not to mention the wave of resignations and face-saving, possible hara-kiris. Yet, realising the numerous unprecedented things that Roosevelt had done, it was not beyond possibility 1 (that he might at least attempt lo (speak directly to the Emperor. • Probably in such a case the Imj perial Family's officials would have torn out the switchboard's telephone i wires and then disappeared for good, j However, the Japanese spokesman ; stood on his interpretation, and consequently, with his approval. 1 cabled his four-word message: “God cannot be disturbed.” More than Japan’s God would have been disturbed. It. was the custom each year for the Foreign Office spokesman to give a dinner party for the foreign correspondents. Japan had been spending millions of dollars each year in cor- , reeling what she called “misinformed foreign public opinion" and in fostering “a better understanding of Japan’s peaceful policies in the Far East.” At one particular party, given when > Eiji Arnau was spokesman, a prepared speech on the gathering and distribution of news was solemnly ■ read. Arnau emphasised that no cenI sorship existed in Japan! This declar- ■ at ion was so naive that it brought cheers and table rapping from the guests. . It was such attempts to channel all comments and interpretation of Japanese affairs, coupled with the reign of terror, that most irritated and , troubled the foreign correspondent. Many a time the Foreign Office spokesman would deny something t hat correspondents knew to be an established fact. Conditions for news gathering in Tokio were much worse than in European capitals. Naturally this prompted correspondents to go to extremes to seek out : any informed person who could give an intelligent reply or at least an cxi planation that would not insult the intelligence. For a long time we were aware that censorship was operating in the telegraph office, although officially it was strongly denied. The telegraph' office would insist, “There is no cen- ■ sorship. Consequently there is no ne<d to investigate your charge that words ' were eliminated from your cable." Once in answer to a strong protest I had made about the heavy censorship of some important cable, I was naiveiy informed that undoubtedly the words had dropped off the wire in transmission across the Pacific! , ' A few years ago U.S. correspondent , I Linton Wells came through Japan J from Moscow by way of Manchuria. lln Tokio 1 took him lo several Jap- > anese leaders for interviews, and nai turally we attended sessions of lhe | Foreign Office conference. One day. reminiscent of school days, we were . asked to remain after class. J The spokesman intimated the (iis- • |pleasure of Japanese authorities that ■ Wells had written an article contain- ’ ing military secrets pertaining to ■ Manchuria’s railway system. He had ’ reported the additional mileage of . new tracks laid, and had given the names of several new stations. 1 could see that Wells had some- , thing in store for the Foreign Office spokesman. When lhe complaint ended he produced two Manchurian ; railw-ay timetables, one old and one new. Wells then explained that by ’ comparing them he had been able to > learn the additional mileage and the names of the new' stations. After all, the Japanese-controlled Manchurian railway had published these timetables in English for the use of foreign tourists. On my next trip to Manchuria I discovered that all timetables in English had been done awgiy with, and when I returned to Tokio i found that all street maps of Tokio had also been withdrawn.