'Amazing Stories': Australian Newspapers and Anti-Spy Panic, 1910–1945©. Issue 4 (2nd October 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Coatney Journalism Lecturer, Caryn
• Is Part Of: Media history. Volume 28:Issue 4(2022)
• Page Start: 494
• Page End: 509
• Publication Date: 2022-10-02
• Subjects: Australia -- John Curtin -- Great Britain -- journalism -- Adela Pankhurst -- World War II; Mass media -- History -- Periodicals; Press -- History -- Periodicals; Journalism -- History -- Periodicals; 070.09
• DOI: 10.1080/13688804.2021.1947213
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1368-8804

Abstract

Abstract : Moral panic has become a popular concept to explain a media frenzy that has provoked public alarm. A largely unexplored area of panic has been the exceptional allegations of pro-Nazi secret agents in Australia during World War II. Moral panics have often been viewed as the outcome of the media acting as a single entity to generate wild reporting and mass hysteria. This article proposes a refinement of the concept by showing that the press published varied reporting about a government crackdown on so-called fascist spies. The article focuses on the British accused spy and self-proclaimed journalist, Adela Pankhurst, and John Curtin, a hard-hitting labour reporter who became Australia's wartime prime minister. Rival newspapers provided stylised expressions of civility and outrage about the sensational crackdown. The news of a battle against powerful traitors also shaped popular views of Curtin's leadership and Australia's need to uphold a democratic British identity.