RADIO AND CHILDREN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 250, 19 September 1940, Page 12

RADIO AND CHILDREN

FEATURES OBJECTED TO. EDUCATION BOARD PROTESTS. The circular letter, from the Hawke’s Bay Education Board expressing concern about some of the items indulged in radio broadcasts during evening sessions came before the Wanganui Education Board at its meeting yesterday, when it was decided to endorse the protest. The Hawke’s Bay Board considered that the “crime thrillers” were not conducive to the development of a sound emotional life among the people and were not in" keeping with the best traditions of' our educational system which strove to develop an appreciation of more wholesome dramatic art than that based upon gun-play and crime. They also tended to bring the level of literary appreciation nearer to that of the “yellow” Press. The undue promineiice given to a life of crime and. the activity of detectives and police created a bias in the child’s mind toward these less savoury aspects of civilised life quite out of proportion to their importance or significance. The immediate effect upon children was to create a state of mind whereby they were too easily excited, too nervous, apt to be deprived of sleep, troubled by vivid dreams and thus well on the way to becoming neurotic. It might be argued that parents might exercise control over their children and refuse to let them liste'n-in. That, however, was not the point at issue, but even so it was fundamentally unsound that parents should be compelled to take such drastic . action to protect their children from an educational and entertainment medium sponsored by the Government. Unfortunately, however, many parents did not take this action. A strict censorship was exercised over moving pictures and an even stricter censorship was desirable over radio broadcasts. The letter instanced “Piccadilly,” “Detective Scott of Scotland Yard,” and “The Black Aloth.” as undesirable radio serials.

Air E. F. Hemingway, chairman of the board, said he thought the Hawke’s Bay protest should be endorsed and he moved accordingly. Air I. W. Aludford seconded the motion and said the Longburn School Committee had complained about radio serials for children from the Palmerston North broadcasting station.

Air W. G. Black urged closer collaboration between the broadcasting authorities aud the Education Department to ensure that the programmes were suitable to the minds of the children. The national radio service had Professor Shelley at its head and he was a dramatist; so it wan difficult to believe he had approved of some of the programmes. Mr Black thought the greater weakness lay in the commercial station programmes. One of those stations conducted a “joke of the week” session and it was hard to believe that the public tolerated the implication of some of the jokes put over.

Air J. C. Batt contended that a lot of “.rubbish” was put over the air. The protest,' as stated, was endorsed. Unanimous support for the Hawke’s Bay Education' Board’s protest to the Minister of Education and the Minister of Broadcasting about the broadcasting of unsuitable items during the evening 1 sessions was forthcoming at yesterday’s meeting of the Wellington Education Board, which had before it a copy of the Hawke’s Bay board’s letter to Air Fraser.