Madagascans Take To Television

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31655, 16 April 1968, Page 2

Madagascans Take To Television

W.Z.PA.-Reufer—CopurtflhO TANANARIVE (Malagasy Republic). Madagascan television, just over two months old, is telling girls why they should not wear mini-skirts and offering other explanations of the republic’s morality campaign. Government ministers have been called to the small screen in a programme called “face to face” to explain the ban on mini-skirts, minidresses and other clothing I "likely to incite immorality." Whatever the programme, 'television has taken Tananarive by storm. Television

aerials sprout from many rooftops here—humble homes as well as mansions. Those who cannot afford a set crowd outside shopfronts where the sets are left on during the evening. This has led to traffic snarls on the main streets and even to fisticuffs during the jostling for positions. Some viewers bring their own chairs or benches to watch the night’s entertainment There is such a crowd that the chairs are often placed in the middle of the main thoroughfare until motorists appeal to police for right of passage. So far there are less than 1000 sets in Tananarive, but this is a much greater number than originally anticipated. The telecasts cover only this capital city and suburbs to a radius of about 19 miles. The service, half of which is supplied by the French Office of Co-operation in Broadcasting, has a range of shows. Andres Resampa, Minister of State for the Interior, has been Interviewed in the course of three programmes on public morality—especially the explanation of the ban on mini-skirts—the plan to create boarding schools for girls over the whole land, state farms and commune syndicates, and the economic role of the Malagasy Department of the In terior.