The Stars And Stripes Association News

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO investigated allegations of censorship, news management, and command influence at the Stars and Stripes newspapers. GAO found that: (1) institutional and cultural differences between the military and media made it difficult for the papers to simultaneously accomplish their missions to provide accurate, uncensored news and their military mission to provide mission-oriented material; (2) although the Department of Defense (DOD) revised its publications policy in 1984 in order to help prevent censorship, the revision actually permitted greater military influence by establishing an advisory board for each paper to be chaired by the appropriate unified command's public affairs officer, and by prohibiting investigative reporting; (3) according to a panel formed by the Society of Professional Journalists, evidence of censorship and inappropriate news management was conclusive at the Pacific Stars and Stripes, but inconclusive at the European Stars and Stripes; (4) allegations at the Pacific paper concerned attempts by military officials to influence reporting on subjects sensitive to host countries, attempts to influence Stars and Stripes personnel actions, and military unresponsiveness to reporters' inquiries; (5) most of the allegations in Europe involved external influence by commanders and their public affairs officers, who caused stories to be withheld or delayed, or were unresponsive; and (6) although 47 percent of the wire services' stories on DOD were negative, only 35 percent of the wire services' DOD stories published in the European paper were negative, and only 27 percent were negative in the Pacific paper.

This work is an account of the China edition of the U.S. Army's daily newspaper, The Stars and Stripes, which was geared toward service personnel in the China Theater of Operations at the end of World War II and published for nearly a year. The book addresses Japanese repatriations, war-crime trials, the Chinese civil war and the rise of Communism as covered by the paper, and the paper's role in strengthening U.S. troop morale.

Publisher description

The Routledge Handbook of Civil Society in Asia is an interdisciplinary resource, covering one of the most dynamically expanding sectors in contemporary Asia. Originally a product of Western thinking, civil society represents a particular set of relationships between the state and either society or the individual. Each culture, however, molds its own version of civil society, reflecting its most important values and traditions. This handbook provides a comprehensive survey of the directions and nuances of civil society, featuring contributions by leading specialists on Asian society from the fields of political science, sociology, anthropology, and other disciplines. Comprising thirty-five essays on critical topics and issues, it is divided into two main sections: Part I covers country specific reviews, including Japan, China, South Korea, India, and Singapore. Part II offers a series of thematic chapters, such as democratization, social enterprise, civic activism, and the media. As an analysis of Asian social, cultural, and political phenomena from the perspective of civil society in the post-World War IIera, this book will be useful to students and scholars of Asian Studies, Asian Politics, and Comparative Politics.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.