BAD GRAMMAR ON THE AIR

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28929, 24 June 1959, Page 14

BAD GRAMMAR ON THE AIR

Records Banned By N.Z.B.S.

(Neu Zealana Press Association) WELLINGTON. June 23

Records for children that featured characters speaking bad grammar were withdrawn from the air last year by the New Zealand Broadcasting Service The Broadcasting Service explained its reasons today, in response to an inquiry from a father, whose 10-year-old daughter wanted to know why she did not hear “Bugs Bunny” records any more

The Broadcasting Service stated it had a continuing responsibility to maintain and review—as supplies and quality permitted—the standard of recordings used in programmes for children. Most children's records were American in origin The best were widely acceptable, but some relied unduly on noisy sound effects to gain and hold the child's attention

The characters spoke with distorted vowels and grating accents and the stories introduced idioms and pronunciations which did not satisfy generally accepted standards of good speech in this country

The Broadcasting Service again revised its standards for children's records early last year and withdrew those that no longer satisfied the standards The need for this review was supported by independent public criticism of these recordings from parents and parent-teacher groups.