BROADCAST SPEECHES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4410, 4 February 1930, Page 1

BROADCAST SPEECHES.

That the vogue of broadcasting has'had a prejudicial effect upon the quality of public speeches is the judgment of'Dr. S. M. Berry, expressed in an article in the Yorkshire Observer. “Microphones on the speaker’s table may provide a < hannel of communication between the speaker and the audience outside, but they often set up a screen between the speaker and the audience insiide,” be writes. “They terrorise him into a more formal method of speaking. They drive him to write down everything he is going to say. The time limit of the programme must be strictly adhered to. Every word must he carefully weighed. I was acutely conscious of the operation of this tendency at a great gathering in the interest qf one of the greatest causes in the world. The speakers were all* celebrated men. There was evei’ything in the spirit and circumstances of that gathering to call for, speeches which would touch the deepest chords. But the microphones were on the speakers’ table, they were over-awed and there was not a word spoken which awakened any spirit of heartfelt enthusiasm in that great assembly. The audience were left cold and untouched. They, too, seemed to he conslious that their cheers must be restrained and that their behaviour was under critical scrutiny. The speaker who will really touch the great army of outside listeners,” Dr. Berry adds, “is the one who forgets all about the microphono and addresses himself exclusively to the people under his eyes. Very few of our public men have the courage to do this, and in consequence their carefully-pre-pared discourses are as dead as mutton.”