The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo and The Sun SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 1936. CONTROL OF THE AIR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 193, 15 August 1936, Page 8

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo and The Sun

SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 1936. CONTROL OF THE AIR.

For the cause that lack," dssiziancc, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

When the British Broadcasting Corporation was granted its first charter, for a term of ten years ending on December 31 next, the numbei of listeners' licenses was about two millions At the end of last month it exceeded 7,700,000 the .increase during the twelve months having been 570,000. Although these are large numbers, a 8.8.C. publication issued when the total of licenses was 7,400,000, showed —or the assumption that there are, on the average four or five persons in each household —that in only one county (Selkirk) was there i wireless set in practically every house. The proportion of licenses to population in Selkirk was 27 per cent, but the proportion over the whole of England was 17, Scotland 13, Wales 12 and Northern Ireland 6. "Saturation point," therefore, is not likely to be approached for some years. With the rapid growth in the number of listeners there has been a great increase in the power and responsibility of the 8.8.C. This semi-independent monopoly, a compromise between nationalisation and private enterprise, is a peculiarly British expedient, supported by a peculiarly British argument —the undoubteel fact that it works. The Corporation was granted at a time when neither the nature nor the rapidity of the development of broadcasting could be foreseen, a charter for ten years, but it has adapted itself so well that an investigating committee had no difficulty in recommending that the charter be extended. To this proposal there was no opposition in Parliament —a fact which bears witness to the efforts of the 8.8.C. to remain impartial. Even more remarkable than the general endorsement given to the 8.8.C. administration was the refusal of the Government to accept one of the committee's most important recommendations, that the Corporation should have a proper spokesman in Parliament, with the ultimate right of veto over programmes and the duty of defending the 8.8.C. Estimates. The Government —astonishing as it may seem to people aware of the rigid control of broadcasting in Continental countries —took the view that if a Minister were charged with these duties "he would find himself more and more obliged to exercise actual control," with the result that the 8.8.C.'s independence would be lessened. It is not denied that in the last resort the Government's authority must prevail—in a time of emergency it is entitled by law to take control—but the conviction is shared that, in the words of a prominent member of the Labour Opposition, if Governments were to grow into the habit of controlling broadcasting, Britain would be "well on the way to the spectacle which can be seen in Europe, where under Government ownership broadcasting is being used to turn people into robots." The determination of Britain, so strikingly expressed, to keep its broadcasting system free from political control, is of 'especial interest in New Zealand at this time. Here, also, the increase in radio listeners is rapid, and here the Government of the day has taken absolute control of the service. Except for the introduction of Parliamentary broadcasts (in which the Opposition has shared), Government control has not changed the service for better or worse, but there is a widespread belief that in future it will, whether overtly or not, use it as an instrument of its o<vn policy. If such a tendency became apparent it could not be effectually checked, but the Government would be wise if it went out of its way to convince listeners that the broadcasting service is not to be used for party j purposes. None of those Governments which deliberately appropriate radio for their own ends are democratic Governments. The Labour Government has the difficult task of proving that Government control can not only satisfy the primary need of listeners— entertainment —but that it is compatible with democratic ideals of freedom and fairness.