B.B.C. TALKS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 81, 6 April 1933, Page 21

8.8.C. TALKS

CONTROVERSIAL SUBJECTS

DEBATE IN THE HOUSE

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, February 23. By a vote of 203 to 27 the House of Commons decided than on the whole all was well with the British Broadcasting Corporation. A debate arose from a resolution moved by Mr. Emmott expressing tho view that it would be contrary to the public interest to subject the 8.8.C. to any additional control by Parliament, and that, as regards controversial matter, the Governors should ensure tho effective expression of all important opinion in broadcast programmes. Ho wished for an explanation of the constitutional position of the . Corporation and the relations in which it stood to the Postmaster-General. He referred to the two occasions in 1931, when Mr. Winston Churchill was not allowed to broadcast his views on India. It was beyond dispute, he said, that these views were important, and he belivod it was wrong to insist that wo must open (far laws only to comfortable doctrines. Sir Stafford Cripps (Labour, Bristol) moved an Opposition amendment that a Select Committee be appointed to review the work of recent years and make recommendations. He held that if political issues were to bo selected tho selection should bo made at the House of Commons, and not in the Broadcasting House, Sir Kingsley Wood (PostmasterGeneral) said that so far as controversial and political broadcasts were concerned there was today no ban or bar by Government. ' Broadcasts on the eve of an election had been a matter of special arrangement between the various parties. But tho general principle observed was that there should be no licence for subversive doctrine or propaganda against the foundations and good government of the State, but reasonable opportunity for the expression of free opinion and thought. LABOUR PARTY'S VIEW. It was not unnatural that there should be some complaints and criticisms of the 8.8.C. There were at least 22,000,000 listeners in the country, and the 8.8.C. provided 60,000 hours of programme. No doubt every listener had his idpa of what tho programme should b,e. Some wanted the corporation to go gay. (Laughter.) Others contended there was too much uplift in the programmes. Ho believed that for every critic there were' 10,000 satisified but silent listeners. Of course, the corporation made mistakes, but without initiative and experience on tho part of the corporation broadcasting would be- a weak and weary affair. As to the amendment, all sorts of allegations had boon made by the Socialist party against the corporation, lit some Socialist organs it had been said that the very tones of tho microphono were Conservative. (Laughter.) Tho real reason for tho amendment was that the Labour party wanted an opportunity of airing their views before a. select committee of tho House. ;" Mr. Lansbury said that it was totally unfair to allow statements to be made derogatory to Opposition—without their being givon an opportunity of replying. "Our contention is not that tho 8.8.C. do not allow political discussions of a controversial nature," he sair]. '''They-do,- but when it comes to spokesmen for the Government broadcasting highly controversial matter wo maintain the Opposition has a right to answer. "I object to tho elevation of the 8.8.C. into the position of a kind of god, and to choose who shall speak and who shall not. That position has to be met, and I ■ think tho House might appoint this Committee to try and find somo' means of dealing with it." Mr. LL9YD GEORGE'S TRIBUTE. Mr. Lloyd George opened with a glowing tribute, to the 8.8.C. against which, he said, he had no grievance. "I have spent the last eighteen months in the country," he declared, "and I say without hesitation that the 8.8.C. has added a very substantial percentage to the amcrititics of country life.. . • "It has given me also the opportunity of comparing the broadcasts of the 8.8.C. with those of practically every country in Europe, and I say without any hesitation that, so far as my judgment is concerned, although upon a given night you may get something better in one of the capitals of Europe, as far as sustained excellence in quality is concerned, our 8.8.C. is infinitely superior to all of them. That is a very great achievement, and we owe a debt of gratitude to them, for their organising genius, their intelligence, and their imagination." NEED FOR FRESH AIR. Mr. Chamberlain asked: Since when has a British Government shirked or been afraid of controversy? I have never heard of such a thing. Controversy ha 6 been the buoyancy of Governments. It has been the means by which, they kept themselves alive. Ministers arc kept here on the grindstone of criticism. (Laughter.) Very often tho process of framing an answer to an attack has been the spur which has discovered the remedy for an evil. (Laughter.) I have sat long enough in Cabinets to know how refreshing it is when the atmosphere of smug complacency and mutual admiration is broken in upon by tho window being thrown up and a keen, even bitter, gust of fresh air coming in. (Laughter.) I must admit there are limits. Sedition and obscenity are punished by the law. The violation of official secrets —(Laughter) —is forbidden. But I attach.no importance to the argument that you must not talk about foreign affairs or - about Indian affairs. (Laughter.) "I think it is very wrong that there has been no permission given for a statement of views on India not represented by tho-Government or the present Opposition. What harm could it do which cannot be done by a speech or an article sent out to India? The object is to prevent tho formation^ of British opinion. That is what I think is unfair, and an abuse of power."