THE BROADCASTING SENSATION.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 January 1926, Page 2

THE BROADCASTING SENSATION.

NEWSPAPER CRITICISM

COMPANY TAKEN TO TASK

BY TFLEGRAPIl —PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.]

LONDON, Jan, 18

The ultra-original item in Saturday’s wireless entertainment from London has resulted in sharp criticism of the British Broadcasting Coy. Rev. Father Ronald Knox, the wellknown Roman Catholic preacher, whose reputation as a wit is equal to that of the well-known “Brother Evoe.” of “Punch,” delivered the skit for broadcasting, which professed to describe a Communist Revolution in Hondon.

Rev. Father Knox speaking as wireless announcer, described the receipt of news that the Houses of Parliament had been blown up. the National Gallery sacked, and the Savoy Hold invaded.

The description was punctuated by the shouting of a mob, the noises cf nil explosion the whole being so ‘ilistie that many of the listeners forgot that Father Knox was a humor: st, and they believed that London ,vvs really in the hands of Communists. Hundreds of too listeners teleph >ned to London and anxiously enquired for confirmation of news.

Throughout Sunday, there wore enquiries from the more remote villages though the Broadcasting Company had long before stated that the address was a skit. LONDON. Jan. 17.

The consternation arising out of Father Knox’s “fake” bulletins continued throughout Sunday. The Broadcasting Company was forced to continue its reassuring explanations and apologies. A controversy has now arisen .‘oneerning the wisdom of broadcasting items likely to be misleading. The Company points out that the bulletins were really so fantastic that they should not have been misunderstood. The newspaper “Sketch” expresses the opinion that the panic was so genuine that the matter cannot he allowed to rest. Tt says the Company failed to realise that people do not sit with the head phones clamped to their oars all night long, but they pick up the phones occasionally, and thereby they easily miss the preliminary announcement. The incident, it says, shows that everybody does not t " 1 the same size in jokes. The people now know (letter than to accept : i“ tiling as news until they have seen it in print.

WOMEN SUFFER SHOCK QUESTION OF COMPANY'S LIABILITY. DONDON, Jan. IS. Many women are suffering from shock as the result of the Rev. Father Knox’s broadcasted “Riot Joke,” and the question arises as to the Broadcasting Company’s liability for damages. Tin' non-arrival of the Sunday newspapers, owing to the snow-bloc railways, intensifies the alarm in isolated districts, where it is still believed news is being censored. The “Daily Express” says the Company’s discreditable piece of folly might have bad serious results if it had I ecu perpetrated at holiday time, when the newspaper offices wore closed, because wireless showed itself iniipablo of overtaking the rumour.