BROADCASTING CONTROL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21113, 22 February 1932, Page 13

BROADCASTING CONTROL.

8.8.C. PUBLIC TRUST SYSTEM. APPLICATION IN DOMINION. The opinion that (ho New Zealand broadcast service is conducted by the Government is sometimes heard expressed. The New Zealand Broadcasting Board is licensed by tlie Stale to carry 011 the service, but acts as trustees not only for listeners, but also for the public. The lines of demarcation between a public trust system of control and State control are defined in the_ following article on the formation of the British Broadcasting Corporation, on the lines of which the Dominion board is based. The 8.8.C. began as a company formed by wireless manufacturers in conjunction with the British Tost Office in 1922. In 1923 the Sykes Committee recommended, among other tilings, that "Public control of broadcasting must remain; but, from a programme point of view, direct operation by a Government department responsible to Parliament was. unsuitable." In 1926, 'the Earl of Crawford was chairman of a committee which included Mr. Rudyard Kipling and Lord Rayleigh. "While paying a well-deserved compliment" to the achievements of the company it rejected the idea of a commercial body trading for profit, direct or indirect, as a suitable instrument for a national broadcasting service ... it regarded a monopoly as essential, and found a solution in a public trust, endowed with the maximum of freedom which Farlianlffil is prepared to concede Crawford Committee's Report. "We have framed our report . . with the knowledge that the State, through Parliament, must retain tlio right of ultimate control," reported the committee. "We assume that the Post-inaster-General would be the Parliamentary spokesman on broad questions of policy, although we think it essential that the commission, should not be subject to the continual Ministerial guidance and direction which apply to Government offices. The progress of science and the harmonieg of art will be hampered by too rigid rules and too constant a supervision by the Stale. Within well-defined limits tlio commission should enjoy the fullest liberty. It would discourage enterprise and initiative, both as regards experiments and the intricate problem of programmes, were the authority subjected (o too much control." Of this conception of the status and fund ions of the new authority, the committee's views as to its composition were the logical and inevitable consequence. Its members, they held, should be, not (as had been suggested to them) persons representing various interests, but "persons of judgment and independence, free of commitments, and having no other interests to promote than those of the public service." They were to be nominated by the Crown, to hold office for five years, in the first instance, and to be suitably remunerated. Particular interests or points of views should be presented, not on the governing body, but through advisory committees. Creation of Corporation. The British Government responded to this advico by creating the 8.8.C. under Royal Charter, to take over tho national service immediately the old company's contract expired, on January 1, 1927, not only (o control its own programmes, but also its transmissions; free from interference either by the Post Office or the politicians; and under a board of independent and reputable public men. Since then, the corporation has advanced to become one of tho marvels of tho modern world, and now serves over four million licenced listeners with two programmes a day and additional "Regional broadcasts" from relay stations at various important centres. , Tin Crawford Committee conceived the corporation as a "trustee for the national interest in broadcasting." In entrusting it to a small appointed board of representative men and women, experienced in aff.i.rs and having 110 ether loyalty than to tfio public which they serve, Britain has taken a course which the director-general, Sir John Reith stales, other countries are endeavouring more and more to follow. As a monopoly,'it can view its obligations in a large spirit and is free from the competitive temptation to debase its standards. As a public trust it. can plan and pursue a steady policy without distraction or vicissitude. To win and to retain the solid confidence of the public, and to establish tho right relations with the many agencies which it serves or who'e assistance it requires—these are the conditions of its success.