Draft:The Media Offensive

The Media Offensive: How the Press and Public Opinion Shaped Allied Strategy during World War II is a non-fiction history of military-media relations during World War II by the historian Alexander G. Lovelace. It was published in paperback by the University Press of Kansas in July 2022. An unabridged audiobook narrated by David de Vries is scheduled for release in August 2022. The Media Offensive is part of the University Press of Kansas' Studies in Civil-Military Relations series edited by William A. Taylor.

Synopsis
The Media Offensive is a history of the United States’ military operations during World War II. In particular, it investigates the influence of the press and public opinion on battlefield decision-making from Pearl Harbor to the surrender of Japan. The book argues that World War II was fundamentally a media war since while military and political leaders successfully utilize the press as a weapon, they also allowed it to influence their military decisions.

The book also argues for a new direction in scholarship for military-media relations which the author titles “the new history of war reporting.” While previous scholarship mostly focuses on wartime censorship, propaganda, or the adventure stories of war correspondents, the new history of war reporting attempts to discover the influence of news and public opinion on the actions of soldiers.

Reception
The Media Offensive" received positive reviews in The Journal of Military History, The New York Review of Books and the U.S. Air Force's Air & Space Power Journal''.