Press Censorship and the Terrace Mutiny: A Case Study in Second World War Information Management

Abstract

During the Second World War the Canadian government employed a system of voluntary press censorship to prevent the publication of information harmful to military security. In November 1944, an anti-conscription mutiny broke out in the 15th Infantry Brigade based in Terrace, British Columbia. Terrified that the mutiny would spread, the military and government pressured the censors to increase the stringency of their application of the Defence of Canada Regulations to down-play news of the out-break. The censors resisted this pressure, arguing that the existing system adequately protected military security. Greatly disturbed by these demands, the censors felt that increased censorship was harm-ful to freedom of the press. Following the end of the mutiny the censors determined that the voluntary press censorship system did prevent the publication of inflammatory information; if anything, the press had been far too quick to censor the news, and individual freedom would have been better served by the media disputing more of their decisions. Second World War press censorship was a successful system which effectively prevented the publication of harmful material. Torn between their duties and their ethical concerns, censors also demonstrated the moral ambiguities of war in arguing against censorship.