by Richard van Pelt, WWI Correspondent

As the year drew to a close, this is what readers would have noted in the Capital Journal:

RUSSIANS TELL IT AND ARE VICTORS; GERMANS DENY IT
Claim That the Austrians Are Routed and Are in Disorganized Flight
PROMISE ADVANCE BY RUSSIAN NEW YEAR
Austrian War Office Hotly Denies Statement – “Moved Back to Straighten Lines”

THE DAY’S FIGHTING FROM ALL WAR ZONES
News As Told by All Parties Boiled Down for Convenience of Busy Folk

The English cabinet today was considering the Washington protest against British warships’ interference with American commerce on the high seas.

Prolonged negotiations seemed certain.

British officialdom professed to think the protest friendly but some unofficial opinion was that it was unfriendly and of German inspiration.

ATTACK OF ALLIES EASILY REPULSED SAY THE GERMANS
Say the French claims of Gains Are Utterly Without Foundation
ADMIT FRENCH MADE BRILLIANT CHARGES

ENGLAND STIRRED BY WILSON’S STAND AS TO NEUTRALITY
Officials Disposed to Take It in the Friendly Spirit that Dictated It
SOME PROFESS TO SEE GERMANY’S HAND IN IT

GERMANY ADMITS AUSTRIAN DEFEAT AND SCOLDS ALLY
What She Expects to Gain by Goading Austria Cannot Be Even Guessed
MAY DRIVE HUNGARY TO ASK FOR PEACE

The dispassionate reader could be forgiven if confused as to what was taking place on the battlefronts. The belligerents were as busy jockeying to seize that advantage in reporting events as they were in attempting to control events on the ground. “Spin” as a media term comes from the 1980’s but it is evident on a daily basis in the headlines from World War I.