Watching the Sun Rise: Australian Reporting of Japan, 1931 to the Fall of Singapore

by Jacqui Murray

Historians have long claimed that a tradition of fear of Japan dominated Australian thinking about foreign affairs and defense after Japan's defeat of Russia in 1905 and that this fear remained widespread throughout the Australian population until the Pacific War. This study of Australian reporting on Japan challenges that claim by exposing a culture of state censorship, intimidation of the media, and neglect of official public discussion of foreign affairs in the years 1931-1941 which resulted in newspapers, radio, and news reels projecting a collective national consciousness of Japan as a nation of little import―despite very real fears in senior political ranks about Japanese designs on Australia. Jacqui Murray's argument for the Australian media's underestimation of Japan's threat is sustained by close examination of media practices, publications, and broadcasts which clearly show misleading representations of Japan before the Pacific War. Watching the Sun Rise details not only government peace-time media censorship but also war-time propaganda flows from Australian, British, and Japanese sources into the Australian media and examples of cooperation and/or espionage among media personnel.

296 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2004

About the author

I'm a teacher, writer, mom and dog-lover. I'm the author of a self-help book for teens called Building a Midshipman, the story of my daughter's journey from high school to the United States Naval Academy as well as the Rowe-Delamagente series, thrillers about terrorists, geeks, and world-ending dangers. As a break from non-stop thrills, I write the Man vs. Nature series which follows early humans as they struggle to survive a world where Nature is King and they are nothing more than prey.

I'm also an adjunct professor in tech ed, editor of a K-18 technology curriculum and over one hundred technology training books for K-12, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find my books at my publisher’s website, Structured Learning.

Currently, I'm working on the trilogy Crossroads, next in the Man vs. Nature collection, which should be out next Spring.