TALKS BY RADIO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22260, 7 November 1935, Page 14

TALKS BY RADIO

REPLY TO CRITICISM BOARD AND GOVERNMENT STATEMENT BY MR. COATES DENIAL OF INTERFERENCE [BY TELEGRAPH —SPECIAL nEPOIITKHI PAPAROA, Wednesday Various points of criticism regarding broadcasting policy which have cropped up during the election campaign were referred to to-day by the Minister of Finance, Mr! Coates, in the course of an interview. Mr. Coates said there had been attempts to make political capital out of broadcasting, which, in fact, had boon removed from political control on the setting-up of the present Broadcasting Board. "As a matter of policy, the national stations are wholly under the jurisdiction of tho board," said Mr. Coates. "Unless and until the present legislation is reviewed the Government is not entitled to interfere, nor has it attempted to do so. Tho programmes arc entirely a matter for the board. Parliament considered it desirable to follow tho British system and place the national stations outside politics. This removed tho danger that broadcasting might be used to further party interests. Position of B Stations "The privately-owned B stations are in a somewhat different position," Mr. Coates continued. "They are lfcensed by tho Postmaster-General, who controls the hours of transmission and the cancellation and transfer of licences, but by the Broadcasting Amendment Act, 1935, the board is given the duty of supervising their programmes, and control of programmes subject-matter would be imposed by the board and not by the Government. "Allegations have been made that B stations have been muzzled during recent months. I have no information which would suggest any foundation for these charges. The Government has imposed no restriction whatever on B stations. On the contrary, the amending legislation this year increased the freedom they enjoyed by removing the ban on the broadcast of controversial matter. Since the removal of this ban the Government has done nothing to restrict controversial matter, nor has it made any representations to the board to do so. , Political Addresses "I am given io understand that the board has not interfered with B stations in any way except to lay down the following regulations:—-(1) That no political candidate may speak over the air; (2) that any B station which desires to broadcast matter that would have offended the old regulations against controversy and propaganda shall first submit such matter to the board for approval. "The first regulation was necessary in order to prevent any candidate who happened to have access to a B station from obtaining an unfair advantage over other candidates. If broadcasting by candidates had been allowed some would probably have been willing to pay large sums to B stations for the privilege of speaking over the air. This was a great evil during the recent Australian elections, and my own opinion is that it is desirable to prevent a similar occurrence in New Zealand. Controversial Broadcasts "I am sure everyone will appreciate that some supervision of controversial matter is necessary," Mr. Coates went on. "In England, the British Broadcasting Corporation insists that every talk to be broadcast must be submitted in manuscript beforehand. 1 understand that in New Zealand this is required only in respect of controversial matter. The board has recently appointed a specially qualified person to supervise controversial matter Ijroadcaet from its own stations, and 1 am informed that it merely asks that the same tests should be applied to controversial matter broadcast from B stations. "I have seen statements to the effect that tho board has banned controversial matter from B stations. My information is that this is incorrect, and that no B station has complained of the banning of controversial matter. Tho attitude of the board that such matter should first be*submitted to it for approval appears to me to be eminently reasonable, more particularly in view of the fact that this condition is required in respect of the main stations "Complaint has also been made that for royalty payments by gramophone companies constitute an attempt to put B stations off the air However, this is entirely a matter for the B stations, and the companies' royalties must also be paid by tho board on records broadcast from the main stations. All these payments are outside the province of the Government to control."