The War Correspondent and World War II: From Investigation to News (1934-1941)

This article examines elements of the work of the international/war correspondent (print newspaper and radio broadcast) before and during the beginning of the Second World War (1934-1940). It discusses how different wartime conditions affected journalism, and thus the news. Among other considerations, correspondents had to deal with second-hand information, censorship, and the interests of both the sending and receiving countries. The analysis is developed from an approach that discusses the objectivity of the journalism and the universe of travel and travelers. To this end, it focuses on William Shirer, an American correspondent in Berlin, and his book Berlin Diary, The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, published in 1941.