Uses of Mass Communication In and Around WWII

During the mid 1920's, new modernistic art and music, harboring new ideas and beliefs, were becoming known and judged by people across the globe due to mass communication. The new methods of transportation (i.e airmail etc.) aided the spread of new ideas. The radio broadcast new and intruiging music during WWII, nevertheless, the radio became an extremely important tool leading up to and during WWII. In addition, TV and movies became increasingly vital to mass communication during the 20th century. New full length films began with war propoganda - support the effort- for advertisements and spread new culture across the globe. In 1920 Nellie Melba, a very famous soprano, sang on the radio and was heard across Europe on June 16th, 1920. This is evidence to the fact that the radio helped communication and the spread of culture. "By the late 1930's more than three out of every four housholds in both democratic Great Britain and dictatorial Germany had at least one cheap, massproduced radio" - A History of World Societies (942). Mussolini and Hitler used and controlled the radio to reach huge crowds and audiences far and wide. Hitler also used Leni Riefenstahl to make a war propoganda documentary on the Nazi Party Rally - this is a clear example how mass communication worked in media. Hitler's frequent campaign use of the radio was brand new and interesting to the majority of the young people in Germany. Previously, Hindenburg (former chancellor) only used the radio for rare announcments. Hitler's use sparked the interest of young people becuase of his use of new technology. In addition to the radio for mass communication, Hitler flew from place to place and city to city to make mass speeches, and usually delivered between 3-4 a day. This shows how the airplane aided in mass communication. During WWII mass communication played a huge role. One example would be Tokyo Rose, the name given to English speaking women who broadcast Japanese propoganda. The most famous of those is Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who was tried for treason and found guilty and died last year in 2006. The Tokyo Rose broadcast was an international way of communicating Japan's propoganda. Also, mass communcation was used when Japan surrendered to the allies in 1945. The US became impacient waiting for Japan to agree and view the surrender terms, so on Aug. 14, B-29s dropped leaflets with the terms all over Japan on a bombing run. This was definetly mass communication at work aided by the use of the airplane. When Japan accepted the terms, the emeperor broadcast the surrender over Japanese airwaves for everyone to hear. Mass communication at work. In addition, the new uses and advanments of mass communication through radio enabled the allies and the enemy to broadcast secret codes and transmissions to far off battle fields and headquarters. In addition to transmitting code by radio, new magnetic tape was created to record radio broadcasts and code. This aided in the underground movements such as the French underground or Hogan's Heroes.