AUSTRALIAN PUBLICITY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25660, 7 October 1944, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN PUBLICITY

NOT ENOUGH IN AMERICA COMMENTATOR’S SEARCH FOR KNOWLEDGE (0.C.) SYDNEY, Oct. 4. Well-known United States radio commentator, Mr William Winder, who has arrived in Sydney, deplored the lack of publicity Australia was receiving in America. Mr Winter, whose broadcasts are made regularly every week to Australia, has come to gain first-hand information about Australia and its people. Mr Winter said: “ Only' one American in every 1000 knows Australia’s real contribution to the war. We lack stories of the Australians as a people and their personal sacrifices in the war. We know what fine fighting men you have, but the average American does not know what this country has produced or is capable of producing in food and materials. If Americans knew this, they would realise the value of releasing some of your servicemen to return to primary production. “ Our schools teach almost nothing about Australia and the Far East. Americans are showing greater interest in overseas affairs since the war began. They are forming their own ideas and are keen to know what part Australia will play in the future of the Pacific.”

Mr Ralph Doyle, managing-director of R.K.O. Pictures in Australia, who has returned after a six-months’ visit to America, supported Mr Winter. The mass of American people knew very little about Australia, he said. ‘‘ Motion pictures are a great medium of publicity, reaching millions of people. A few good items about Australia inserted into American newsreels would do a grand job,” he added. "Some good film shorts on Australia, showing our war effort and introducing the Americans soldiers, would be a great method of spreading propaganda in America. „

.“ £250.000 spent annually in the right way in America would pay great dividends,” Mr Doyle said. “American soldiers who have been in Australia and their relatives know what a. great country this is. These soldiers say Australia offers great opportunity for post-war migration. I do not believe that we seized the opportunity of using American soldiers’ presence in Australia to publicise our country.”