Having learned from history at this point, journalists took it upon themselves to self-censor coverage of the Korean War.¹ General MacArthur even encouraged the press to take it upon themselves to decide between what was and was not appropriate to publish, saying that the military was “not trained in journalism.”² MacArthur took a liberal approach to censorship during the war in comparison to Congress’ involvement in previous years. American reporters in Korea were not required to have their stories vetted by an authority before being published, but they were strongly encouraged to use their best judgement when it came to the inclusion of sensitive information, such as plans or criticism of the military.
Ultimately, censorship regulations were put into place some months later after various sensitive information had been leaked. In 1950, army censors became required to read all stories that came out of Korea before allowing them to be published.² The Department of Defense deemed it necessary to impose standards similar to those in World War II, censoring any material that would bring down morale or make a mockery of the United States.
² FAZIO, D. (2007). CENSORSHIP IN THE KOREAN WAR: PRESS – MILITARY RELATIONS, JUNE 1950 – JANUARY 1951. Australasian Journal of American Studies, 26(2), 1–19. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41054073