Cabinet Information Bureau - Cabinet Information Bureau

A national organization for fascist control of the mass media, established in December 1940 (Showa 15) during the second Konoe Fumimaro Cabinet. An informal Intelligence Committee had already been established in September 1932, consisting of officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Army, Navy, Education, Home Affairs, and Communications, and this developed into the Cabinet Intelligence Committee in July 1936. At this stage, its function was limited to coordinating liaison between the relevant agencies of each ministry, but in June 1936 it took on the independent task of supervising and supporting the Domei Tsushinsha, which was established to strengthen overseas propaganda, and in October of the same year launched the Weekly Report. The Cabinet Intelligence Committee was reorganized into the Cabinet Intelligence Department in September 1937, and in addition to liaison and coordination, it was given a partial independent role in information and propaganda, with a full-time intelligence officer assigned to the department. In December 1940, it was reorganized as the Cabinet Information Bureau, becoming a central intelligence agency that integrated the functions of mass media control and domestic and international information and propaganda. The Information Bureau had one secretariat, five departments, and 17 sections under the Director-General and Deputy Director-General. The first department was responsible for planning and research, the second department for guidance and control of newspapers, publishing, and reporting, the third department for foreign propaganda, the fourth department for censorship control of publications, and the fifth department for cultural propaganda such as movies and the arts. Among these, military personnel were placed as chiefs and intelligence officers of the first and second departments, and they took the lead. At the same time, they mobilized people from the media to create a system of government-private cooperation, and were effective in "guiding public opinion" during the Pacific War. However, the Imperial Headquarters Press Department continued to exist, and a system of concurrent posts was established between the Imperial Headquarters Press Department and the Censorship Section of the Police Bureau of the Ministry of Home Affairs, so the organization was not truly unified, and several organizational reforms were carried out. The centralization was completed in May 1945, just before Japan's defeat in the war, and the organization itself was abolished at the end of the year.

[Kenzo Kitagawa]

"Modern History Materials 40 & 41 Mass Media Control 1 & 2" (1973, 1975, Misuzu Shobo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

第二次近衛文麿(このえふみまろ)内閣期の1940年（昭和15）12月に発足したファシズム的マス・メディア統制のための国家機関。すでに1932年9月には、外務、陸軍、海軍、文部、内務、逓信(ていしん)の各省の関係官による非公式な情報委員会が設立されていたが、これが36年7月に内閣情報委員会に発展した。この段階での機能は各省の関係機関の連絡調整にとどまったが、36年6月には対外宣伝強化のためにつくられた同盟通信社を監督、助成する独自の任務をもち、また、同年10月には『週報』を創刊した。内閣情報委員会は37年9月に内閣情報部に改組、連絡調整に加えて、部分的にではあるが独自の情報宣伝機能を担うことになり、専任の情報官が置かれた。さらに40年12月には内閣情報局に改組され、マス・メディアの取締りと内外への情報宣伝機能を統合した一元的な中央情報機関となった。情報局には総裁、次長の下に、一官房、五部17課が置かれた。第一部は企画調査、第二部は新聞、出版、報道の指導取締り、第三部は対外宣伝、第四部は出版物などの検閲取締り、第五部は映画、芸術などの文化宣伝を、それぞれ担当した。このうち、とくに第一部、第二部の部長、情報官には軍人が配置されて主導権を握り、一方では言論界の人間を動員して官民一致の態勢をつくりあげ、太平洋戦争期には「世論指導」に威力を発揮した。しかし、大本営報道部は存続し、内務省警保局検閲課との間では兼官制度を敷くなど機構の実質的一元化は達成されず、ために数次の機構改革が行われた。一元化が完成したのは敗戦直前の45年5月で、年末には機構そのものが廃止された。

［北河賢三］

『『現代史資料40・41　マス・メディア統制1・2』（1973、75・みすず書房）』

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