Cancelled Radio Talk

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30767, 3 June 1965, Page 14

Cancelled Radio Talk

Sir, —Regarding the cancellation of Monday’s “Looking at Ourselves” in which Professor Herd argued the case against troops for Vietnam, Mr Maguire is quoted in the press as saying that he withdrew the show because he thought that both sides of the issue should be heard in the same programme. Would Mr Maguire have withdrawn the talk if Professor Herd had been supporting the Government policy as firmly as he was opposing it? If not, this is not really a valid reason for not allowing us to hear Professor Herd’s views. —Yours, etc., M. F. BIGELOW. June 2, 1965. Sir—So the Broadcasting Corporation saw fit to cancel “Looking at Ourselves” because it favoured only one point of view on Vietnam. The thin edge of the wedge? —Yours, etc., PETER J. LOW. June 1, 1965. Sir,—l have always objected to payment of a radio licence fee when having to put up with irritating commercials, but have consoled myself that we had reasonable freedom of speech on the radio. Reading of the cancellation of Professor Herd’s talk for “Looking at Ourselves” by a senior member of the Broadcasting Corporation, on the ground of its being too one-sided, fills me with utter disgust. So much for our freedom of speech.— Yours, etc., DISGUSTED. June 1, 1965.