press. Despite a shortage of newsprint, newspapers and magazines continued to be published in every country during the war years. The civilian press of the belligerents was part of the propaganda war; the armed forces newspapers boosted morale at the front; and the clandestine press of the various resistance organizations in occupied countries played an important part in keeping in contact with the civilian population and disseminating information not otherwise available (for propaganda and underground press see subversive warfare).

The number of newspaper titles published diminished in all belligerent nations as the war progressed, as did the size of those which survived, but circulations often increased. In the USA, where 135 newspapers were lost; the circulation of the rest jumped by 10 million to 50 million despite the competition created by broadcasting. UK newspapers increased their circulation from 19 million in 1938 to 24 million in 1945, though most were reduced to four pages. Only The Times and the Daily Telegraph chose to print six pages and take a 25% reduction in their print run. Germany, which had the largest press in the world in 1932 with 3,362 newspapers, had only 2,200 by 1939 and a mere 779 by 1945. In 1943 alone 950 were closed, including the famous Frankfurter Zeitung, and all cities of 100,000 or fewer were limited to a single newspaper. Nevertheless, the total circulation of the survivors increased from 19.8 million in 1939 to 25 million in 1945, 82.5% of it being devoted to Nazi publications. However, by the end of the war German newspapers were just single sheets of official communiqués and obituaries.

Japan, which in 1941 ‘possessed one of the most sophisticated mass media networks in the world’ ( B.- A. Shillony, Politics and Culture in Wartime Japan, Oxford, 1991, p. 91), did not have party or government newspapers. Most were privately owned and these backed the government for patriotic not political reasons. After the China incident began in 1937 they were strictly controlled by long-established censorship laws and new laws were introduced in 1941. Provincial newspapers began to be amalgamated in 1940 so that they could be controlled more easily, and to save paper. Nevertheless, at the start of the Pacific war the Japanese press had a daily circulation of 19 million, ‘an average of more than one newspaper per household’ (loc. cit.).

Censorship was total in Germany and Italy. It was total, too, in the USSR, where 2,700 out of 8,789 publications were lost when the Germans invaded in June 1941 (see BARBAROSSA), and in the occupied countries of Europe. A notable exception was Denmark where the Germans laid down certain censorship guidelines but left them to be implemented by the Danes. German occupying troops could not be criticized but the Danish Nazi Party could be, and was. The general tone of the Danish press did much to foster Danish resistance to the occupation which grew steadily throughout the war.

Of the neutral European countries Sweden had no censorship, but Switzerland was forced by Nazi pressure to introduce a law against anyone publicly insulting a foreign state. The press of both countries reported the deportation of Jews (see Final Solution), Swiss newspapers doing so as early as August 1942. (Their plight seems to have been first mentioned in newspapers published in Slovakia in March 1942.) Despite censorship the newspapers of Axis countries were a useful source of information, as were those from neutral countries, and the British Political Warfare Executive had analysts at the British embassy in Stockholm who read them all; an aircraft flew their reports to London weekly.

Censorship was so strict in Paris before the fall of France in June 1940 that one paper protested by printing scissors on a blank column on its front page. Censorship was self-imposed in both the UK and USA, but a number of newspapers were forcibly closed on both sides of the Atlantic: Charles Coughlin's Social Justice in the USA and the Communist Daily Worker (for nineteen months) in London were two examples. The US press spoke out more often against the government than the British did against theirs, and the Daily Mirror was severely castigated by other London newspapers, and threatened with closure, when it stepped out of line by doing so. Security was of paramount importance and few reports from war correspondents escaped the censor. But in June 1942 the Chicago Tribune published a report that could have betrayed US knowledge of the Japanese naval code (see ULTRA, 2); and in November 1940 the London Evening Standard reported the capture of a German weather party (see meteorological intelligence) which might have warned the Germans that their Abwehr hand cipher had been broken.

Bibliography

Hohenberg, J. , Free Press, Free People: The Best Cause (New York, 1973).
Olson, K. , The History Makers (Baton Rouge, La., 1966).

press¹ / pres/ • v. 1. move or cause to move into a position of contact with something by exerting continuous physical force: [tr.] he pressed his face to the glass | [intr.] her body pressed against his. ∎  [tr.] exert continuous physical force on (something), typically in order to operate a device or machine: he pressed a button and the doors slid open. ∎  [tr.] squeeze (someone's arm or hand) as a sign of affection. ∎  [intr.] move in a specified direction by pushing: the mob was still pressing forward. ∎ fig. (of an enemy or opponent) attack persistently and fiercely: [intr.] their enemies pressed in on all sides | [tr.] two assailants were pressing Agrippa. ∎  [intr.] (press on/ahead) fig. continue in one's action: he stubbornly pressed on with his work. ∎  [tr.] Weightlifting raise (a specified weight) by first lifting it to shoulder height and then gradually pushing it upward above the head. 2. [tr.] apply pressure to (something) to flatten, shape, or smooth it, typically by ironing: she pressed her nicest blouse | [as adj.] (pressed) immaculately pressed trousers. ∎  apply pressure to (a flower or leaf) between sheets of paper in order to dry and preserve it. ∎  extract (juice or oil) by crushing or squeezing fruit, vegetables, etc.: [as adj.] (pressed) freshly pressed grape juice. ∎  squeeze or crush (fruit, vegetables, etc.) to extract the juice or oil. ∎  manufacture (something, esp. a phonograph record) by molding under pressure. 3. [tr.] forcefully put forward (an opinion, claim, or course of action): Rose did not press the point. ∎  make strong efforts to persuade or force (someone) to do or provide something: when I pressed him for precise figures, he evaded the subject| the marketing directors were pressed to justify their expenditure | [intr.] they continued to press for changes in legislation. ∎  (press something on/upon) insist that (someone) accept an offer or gift: he pressed dinner invitations on her. ∎  [intr.] (of something, esp. time) be in short supply and so demand immediate action. ∎  (be pressed) have barely enough of something, esp. time: I'm very pressed for time. ∎  (be pressed to do something) have difficulty doing or achieving something: they may be hard pressed to keep their promise. • n. 1. a device for applying pressure to something in order to flatten or shape it or to extract juice or oil: a flower press a wine press. ∎  a machine that applies pressure to a workpiece by means of a tool, in order to punch shapes. 2. a printing press. ∎  [often in names] a business that prints or publishes books: the Clarendon Press. ∎  the process of printing: the book is ready to go to press. 3. (the press) [treated as sing. or pl.] newspapers or journalists viewed collectively: the press was notified| [as adj.] press coverage. ∎  coverage in newspapers and magazines: there's no point in demonstrating if you don't get any press | [in sing.] the mayor has had a bad press for years. 4. an act of pressing something: the system summons medical help at the press of a button. ∎  [in sing.] a closely packed crowd or mass of people or things: among the press of cars he saw a taxi. ∎  Weightlifting an act of raising a weight to shoulder height and then gradually pushing it above the head. ∎  Basketball any of various forms of close guarding by the defending team. PHRASES: press chargessee charge. press something homesee home. press (the) flesh inf. (of a celebrity or politician) greet people by shaking hands. press² • v. [tr.] (press someone/something into) put (someone or something) to a specified use, esp. as a temporary or makeshift measure: many of these stones have been pressed into service as gateposts. ∎ hist. force (a man) to enlist in the army or navy. • n. hist. a forcible enlistment of men, esp. for the navy.

press1
A. crowd, throng XIII;

B. instrument used to compress XIV; machine for imposing the impression of type on paper, etc.; place for printing XVI; matter printed (letter-p.) XVIII.

C. large cupboard XIV. — (O)F. presse, f. presser — L. pressāre, f. press-, pp. stem of premere press.
So press vb. bear down upon or against with force; crowd, push forward XIV; urge XVI. — (O)F. — L. pressure weight of pain, grief, etc. XIV; action of moral or mental force; action of pressing XVII. — L. pressūra.

press2 force (a man) into the navy or army, impress. XVI. alt., under the infl. of PRESS1, of † prest (XVI), f. † prest sb. loan, impost payment in advance, earnest-money paid to a recruit on enlistment XV, enlistment XVI. — OF. prest (mod. prêt) loan, advance pay for soldiers, f. prester (mod. prêter) afford, lend:— L. præstāre furnish, medL. lend, rel. to præstō at hand, within reach.
Hence press sb. (hist.) impressing of men for service XVI; whence p.-gang XVII.

Press

a crush of people, 1400; the newspapers; journalists collectively ; as much sail as the wind will allow on a ship; urgency; a large cupboard, closet, or container.

Examples : press of books, 1709; of canvas; of colthes, 1440; of engagements; of people, 1400; a great press was at the procession, 1400; of sail, 1860; of suspects.

press v. force (a man) to enlist in the army or navy.
n. a forcible enlistment of men, especially for the navy.

press See newspaper

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