Appeal For Radio Time For Communist Party

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30900, 5 November 1965, Page 18

Appeal For Radio Time For Communist Party

An appeal to the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation to give the Communist and other minority parties time on the air on the Vietnam question, has been made by the Canterbury Council for Civil Liberties, says the 1965 interim report of the council.

“Civil liberties become an issue only when the rights of minorities are threatened. If we shirked our responsibility in the defence of the rights of unpopular minorities we would surrender the cause of civil liberties,” the report says.

“The issues arising out of New Zealand commitment in Vietnam have made the defence of civil liberties in New Zealand more vital than ever Wars have forever been the worst enemies of civil liberties. The council is therefore vigilant not to allow these evil tendencies to obtain a foothold in public life. “When in June, 1965, Professor Herd’s talk on the reaction of New Zealanders to the Government decision to senr troops to Vietnam was suppressed b ythe broadcasting authorities, our council immediately issued a vigorous protest. Recently another act of discrimination has been drawn to our attention.

“The Communist Party of New Zealand has asked the broadcasting authorities to give them time on the air to state the communist viewpoint on Vietnam. The request was made on the grounds that listeners and viewers may hear this point of view from members of the Communist | Party itself instead of an I alleged viewpoint presented by the numerous speakers unqualified to explain it. “To this request the broadcasting authorities replied ‘the policy of the N.Z.B.C. on controversial broadcasting is to present all substantial points of view. At the last General Election the votes cast for Communist candidates amounted to 0.26 per cent of the poll. This does not indicate that your party is supported by a substantial proportion of the electorate’ and the application was /therefore declined.

! “We are of the opinion that to measure the degree of substantiality of a point of view by the number of votes drawn by a party at a past election is illegitimate. Ideas cannot be

judged by the fa«t that they have or have not been accepted by votes for political parties. This is all the more so the case when it comes to the point of view held by the Communist Party of New Zealand on the question of Vietnam. One may disagree with these ideas, but nobody could deny they represent ‘a substantial point of view’ in this particular issue,” the report says.