As part of last year’s activities commemorating the
Dec. 7 attack on Pearl Harbor, the History Channel presented
rare Japanese and American footage from 1941 news reports
on the attack. The Dec. 3 event, held at the Hilton Hawaiian
Village, gave the audience a look at the ways news reporting
has changed throughout the years.
Pearl Harbor survivors and residents of O‘ahu who were
here during the attacks gathered at the event to commemorate
and grieve the heart-rending history.
The event consisted of two parts. Part one of the event was
a look at the documentary footage of Pearl Harbor from both
the Japanese and American perspectives.
In the U.S, the footage was not shown for a year after the
attacks because the government carefully produced it for
the purpose of propaganda. It was collaboration with Movietone
News, so some of the footage that was portrayed to be Pearl
Harbor was actually clips from movies and footage from other
attacks. The carefully made footage was intended to prepare
audiences for war. Japanese also used the footage as propaganda
for the war.
American footage was mainly based on how they had built themselves
up since the attack. Men signing up for war, ships being
built, and President Franklin Roosevelt promising “We
are going to win this war,” were points that the Americans
focused on.
The Japanese side showed different types of attacks on Pearl
Harbor. The footage, on the other hand, portrayed the attack
as something that they were proud of and used stirring music
that gave a sense of victory.
“
The American side obviously emphasized the idea of a sneak
attack and their loss of men and ships,” said Daniel
Martinez, chief historian at the USS Arizona Memorial. “Japanese
newsreels portrayed images and themes of victorious Japanese
forces overcoming American and British giants.”
The second part of the event was a two-panel discussion.
The first panel was “How They Reported It,” and
it contrasted headlines of Dec. 7, 1941 and Sept. 11, 2001.
Featuring media experts and reporters, the discussion covered
the difference between the reporting on Pearl Harbor in 1941
and New York on 9-11.
“
Both events are world changing,” said Dr. Jeffery White,
who spoke at the event. “People remember where and
what they were doing during both of these.”
The second panel discussed “A New Beginning: The Pearl
Harbor Historic Sites,” and it featured representatives
from the USS Bowfin Submarine & Museum, USS Missouri
Battleship Memorial, and the Pacific Aviation Museum. A film
of the new Pearl Harbor Memorial Museum and Visitors Center
was shown.
The 65th reunion for the survivors of Pearl Harbor was held
at the Arizona Memorial on Dec. 7, 2006. This was the last
reunion that will be held for the survivors of Pearl Harbor.
