A Transnational Approach to Wartime Press Photography: The Case of Randall Chase Gould (1898–1979) and His Coverage of the Battle of Shanghai (August–November 1937)

This article focuses on the role of photography in the context of the Battle of Shanghai (August–November 1937), one of the first major conflicts of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). An examination of the written and photographic work by American journalist Randall Chase Gould (1898–1979), editor of the American-owned, English-language Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury (SEPM), addresses the question of how he covered the Battle of Shanghai for various transnational audiences. In pursuing an interdisciplinary approach based on transnational journalism history combined with the theoretical framework of the photographic message according to Roland Barthes, this study traces how Gould’s photographs were ‘read’ by multiple audiences in different transnational contexts. An examination of two of Gould’s photographs will highlight the dynamic interrelation between texts and images and will show how images constituted a crucial part of the intended message(s) in media reports on the Battle of Shanghai addressed to transnational audiences.