EMPIRE BROADCASTING

Otago Witness, Issue 3861, 13 March 1928, Page 29

EMPIRE BROADCASTING

CONTROVERSY BAN LIFTED. ERA OF BRIGHTER WIRELESS. LONDON, March 5. The removal of the controversy ban on the British Broadcasting Corporation finds everybody delighted. It i 8 regarded as the biggest change in the history of broadcasting in England. Keen discussions bad latterly been aroused by the frequency with which it was announced that broadcasts had been cancelled at the eleventh hour, either through the British Broadcasting Corporation objecting to tbe views about to be expressed, or through the speakers refusing to be officially shackled.

The strongest critics had been Mr Churchill, tli© Earl of Birkenhead Mr Ramsay MacDonald, Mr G. B. Shaw’ and Mr Lloyd George. Mr Churchill declared that the ban was • absolutely idiotic, because controversy was the soul of British life. &

Mr Shaw, who has not lost a single opportunity for a tilt at the British Broadcasting Corporation since it banned his speech on his seventieth birthday, says: “Mr Baldwin, with the general election in the offing, pretends to discover what I found out every time I spoke. 1 was controversial, hoping that the Postmaster-gteneral would send a brigade of guards to stop me.” The decision suggests an era of brighter wireless in England. STATEMENT BY MR BALDWIN. LONDON, Ma Mr Baldwin, in answer to a question, in th© House of Commons, said that the Government had decided forthwith to remove the condition unde, which the British Broadcasting' Corporation was prohibited from broadcasting statements involving matters of political, religious, and industrial controversy The Government had advised the corporation to use its discretion in utilising the power thus experimentally entrusted to it. OPINION AGAINST THE IDEA. LONDON. March 7. In the House of Commons Mr Baldwin, in answer to questions, said that after consultation with the party leaders in 1926 he had concluded that there was a preponderating opinion against; broadcasting of parliamentary proceedings He did not believe that opinion bad substantially changed, therefore he did not prbpoee to appoint a committee of inquiry on the subject.