Premieres Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV / Stream with KPBS+
Eighty years after the devastating atomic bombings that ushered in the nuclear age, "Bombshell" explores how the U.S. government manipulated the narrative about the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Through propaganda, censorship and the co-opting of the press, the government presented a benevolent picture of atomic power, minimizing the horrific human toll of the bombings. the film sheds light on the efforts of a group of intrepid reporters to let the world know the truth.
On Aug. 6, 1945, a revolutionary new weapon destroyed Hiroshima, a Japanese city of 300,000 inhabitants. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. America’s secret superweapon was lauded for bringing about victory in the Pacific and ending World War II. President Truman’s official announcement included half-truths that shaped the government’s official narrative: “Sixteen hours ago, an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, an important Japanese army base.” In fact, the bomb was aimed at Hiroshima’s city center for maximum psychological effect; the army base on its outskirts escaped much damage.
The U.S. media became pivotal in promoting — and then piercing — the official narrative. While Truman publicly declared that “it has never been the habit of the scientists of this country or this government to withhold from the world scientific knowledge,” that is precisely what General Groves, leader of the Manhattan Project, insisted upon. His strategy was a PR campaign fueled by press releases written anonymously by William L. Laurence, the science writer for The New York Times and an undercover member of the Manhattan Project team. Laurence’s assignment: downplay the radiation effects from the bomb.
Not every journalist adhered to the official line. First on the ground in Hiroshima was Japanese American Leslie Nakashima, who had worked for the United Press in Tokyo until Pearl Harbor. After the bombing, he rushed to Hiroshima to check on his mother. She was safe but the devastation stunned him. Although the United Press syndicated his story, many American papers censored it, including The New York Times, which removed all references to radiation poisoning. An accompanying warning by General Groves told readers that all reports out of Japan “are pure propaganda.”
Although the United Press syndicated his story, many American papers censored it, including The New York Times, which removed all references to radiation poisoning. An accompanying warning by General Groves told readers that all reports out of Japan “are pure propaganda.”
Australian freelancer Wilfred Burchett dodged checkpoints to reach Hiroshima, while Chicago Daily newsman George Weller became the first American reporter into Nagasaki. The radiation poisoning Burchett witnessed was detailed in a front-page story headlined Atomic Plague. It was published in London and reprinted around the world, but Americans did not see it. Meanwhile, George Weller submitted his dispatches to General MacArthur for approval, who instead confiscated them.
Several African American journalists also refused to buy the government’s narrative. Woven through their coverage is the suspicion that the bomb has been deliberately reserved for use against Asians rather than Europeans. Writing in the Chicago Defender, Langston Hughes argued that the bombs were dropped on “Japs,” because the Japs are “colored.” Charles H. Loeb, who wrote for the Black press, reported on the residual effects of radiation poisoning, but there was no follow-up in the mainstream media.
The official narrative finally began to crack in August 1946 when John Hersey’s article on Hiroshima was published as an entire issue of The New Yorker. While Groves and Laurence presented a benevolent spin on atomic power, Hersey’s reporting revealed the enormous moral and human consequences. The issue sold out overnight and the article was reprinted around the world.
The Truman administration doubled down on its efforts to sell its official story, including a government-approved Hollywood movie, "The Beginning or the End."
The only on-the-ground photos to survive August 6 were taken by Hiroshima news photographer Yoshito Matsushige, but they were confiscated just after Japan formally surrendered. In 1952, after censorship was lifted, LIFE magazine published them, allowing Americans to finally peer under the mushroom cloud for the first time.
"Bombshell" sheds light on the efforts of courageous journalists to inform the world about the human costs of nuclear weapons, despite government censorship. On the 80th anniversary of the bombings, their long-overlooked but crucial perspective underscores the essential role of journalists in telling the story of the atomic bomb.
Says filmmaker Ben Loeterman: "'Bombshell' has much to teach us, and the press, about reporting peace and security issues around the world today, from India and Pakistan to North Korea and Japan to Israel and Iran.”
Watch On Your Schedule: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE "Bombshell" will stream for free simultaneously with broadcast on KPBS+. The film will also be available for streaming with closed captioning in English and Spanish on the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE website.
Credits: Written and directed by Ben Loeterman, produced by Loeterman and Gaia De Simoni, executive produced by Cameo George, and narrated by Ann Curry.
