I’m a day late with this if you live in the east, but the China Beat has a good post largely concerning an article published by the New York Times on January 25, 1938, about the ongoing occupation of the Guomindang capital, better known as Nanjing, by Japanese troops.

From the NYT article:

“Stripping away all the Japanese excuses about military necessity…the stark fact remains that the conditions in Nanking one month and ten days after the victorious Japanese Army crashed the gates of China’s former capital are so lawless and so scandalous that Japanese authorities continue to refuse permission to any foreigners except diplomatic officials to visit the city…Again on Jan. 7 Japanese authorities apologetically admitted to the writer that conditions in Nanking were still deplorable but gave assurances that the division of troops then out of hand and daily criminally assaulting hundreds of women and very young girls would be removed from Nanking within two or three days.”

It’s not uncommon to dig up old articles like this and find now-appalling press reactions, but the NYT was right on here, and according to The China Beat “the Times piece was part of a steady stream of reports to the U.S. via AP, Reuters, and various other news bureaus.”

Score one for the free press.