Contradictions in Media History: The Mismatches of Wartime Newspaper Growth

This chapter introduces the approach that is to challenge some assumptions about wartime media: firstly, that secrecy and journalism are incompatible and positioned at opposite ends of the communications spectrum; secondly that participatory inclusivity, in terms of writers and audiences, is a characteristic of ‘citizen’s journalism’ attributable mainly to the internet age. The scope is both interdisciplinary and comparative, addressing head-on a challenge to further appreciate the contribution of ordinary people to media history through their past journalism at local levels in Britain, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, and American forces in Britain.