CONTROL OF BROADCASTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 49, 27 February 1935, Page 6

CONTROL OF BROADCASTING.

Broadcasting is a national service of increasing importance, so that a Bill altering the composition and powers of the Broadcasting Board has a real interest for the whole community. The substance of the Government's Bill is that the Advisory Council is to be abolished, the size of the Board is to be increased from three members to seven, and the sole control of broadcast matter is to be vested in the Board. The Advisory Council, composed of men from the four main centres and several provincial towns, met three times in the last year under review, and gave "much useful advice" to the Board. The loss of the services of the Council should be compensated for, wholly or in part, by the increase in the personnel of the Board, provided that the right men are chosen and that care is taken to keep in touch with listeners. The Minister in Charge has promised to consider the proposal that listeners should be represented on the Board. If he does not agree to straight-out election, he might agree to choose one member from a panel drawn up by listeners' organisations. The Board is to have a free hand in the control of broadcast matter. This is sound policy. The existing regulations have not worked satisfactorily, and the power of veto should reside not with the Post Office, but with the Board. This is not to say that there should be no censorship. It would be just as reasonable to expect a broadcasting authority to accept everything offered it as it would be to expect the editor of a newspaper to publish everything that came in his mail. The British Broadcasting Corporation leads the world in the freedom of discussion it permits, but it does not hesitate to censor contributions. It is necessary that there should be more freedom of discussion than has been allowed in New Zealand, but freedom in this case, as in others, does not mean license. Everything will depend upon the choice of Board members. A certain proportion of business capacity and experience is necessary on the Board for the financial direction of so large a public utility, but finance is only part of the Board's responsibility. It will be there to direct a national service of instruction and entertainment, and a number of the members must be chosen for education and general cultural equipment. They must be men of wide knowledge, broad sympathies and sound judgment. There should also be a definite liaison between the Board and the newspaper Press. Not only would the knowledge and experience of a journalist be useful in directing! a service that bears a good deal of resemblance to journalism, but the increasing use of news in the programmes of stations makes it desirable that there should be someone on. the Board who would act as a link between the newspaper world and the broadcast services.