FLOOD OF PROPAGANDA

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 240, 29 September 1939, Page 4

FLOOD OF PROPAGANDA

FAMILIAR NAZI METHODS BOOKS AND BROADCASTS AIMS OF WORLD COVER Long bolero the war began tho world was made familiar with Nazi propaganda—on the air, in tife count*Jess books on and in a multitude of other printed forms. New Zealand was reached by this spate, but it was chiefly, directed to such parts of the world as the Near East and South America, states the Dominion., ■Now that the war is on, the propaganda offensive has been launched far and wide. It is being conducted in such a manner that New Zealand, in common with every other part of the civilised world, is being reached; directly and daily. If this propaganda is to he recognised for what it is, its various forms must he understood. » Radio as a Weapon. ? First, and most active, is the radio section. Here Germany has a considerable advantage. Her main shortwave station, at Zeesen, is the most powerful in the world. Before tho war its programmes (and piopagnnda played! a large part in them) were “beamed” out systematically to the whole world. Now the beam system

is being employed incessantly far war purposes,; _ Zeesen can be picked up with ease by any efficient short-wave set in this country—and" well the Germans know it. Before the war there was regulajr correspondence between New Zealand listeners and the station: indeed, Zeesen u.sed to announce “replies to New Zealand correspondents.” Already there have been several examples of special attempts to. make use of this contact with New Zealand. The most glaring was the radio “interview” with a captured! pilot officer. Another recent early morning one was a long discourse on the German view of British colonial policy, which monopolised the air with Zeesen’s full powei*. In addition to these “beamed” efforts, Germany is filling the air witli “official” reports of- the lighting in Poland, with coloured stories of British naval activity, with accounts of British action against neutral Powers —with, in fact, every conceivable item of information relating to the war that is likely to impress neutral listeners, discourage British listeners, and damage the Allied cause generally. .triyIn Press News Also So-numerous and so voluminous aro thesa roports and commentaries that they aro seeping their way into press news particularly in* the United! States. In consequence, much of this tainted stuff is reaching this past of the world in American press cables. England

herself is not. immune from it. ~An.y listener tot the 8.8.'C. commentaries cannot fail to be struck by the large proportion of German “communiques” given out. Sot far, the Germans actually have been assisted in their campaign by the conservatism of the .British authorities and the slowness of the .Ministry of Information to play the enemy at its own game. The Ji.B.C. is endeavouring to bo impartial—to let German propaganda, speak for itself. And so it does to the intelligent and discriminating listener. Yet it should not. be forgotten that here is an unpleasant work of fact, in Hitler’s notorious remark that a lie—if it is a big lie and Joudlly spoken—will be believed.

The British authorities are sticking to the truth, but the truth is sometimes apt to he colourless by comparison with shrewd lying. Germany is sticking at nothing. She is lying, as a schoolboy would say, like u flatfish; solemnly, stolidly, constantly. It is this steady lying, repeated so often that it jnay come to ' seem truthful, which has most to he guarded against. Published Information The other important, forms of German propaganda uro in the field of published news. In wartime it is exceedingly difficult for newspapermen to glean in an independent way the information their public socks. Odds and ends of facts they are able to gather by interviewing soldiers and civilians behind the lines, by watching troop movements—by generally keeping their eyes open and putting two and two together. But the bulk of their information, of necessity, domes from official sources; and so it is that neutral newspaper correspondents in the theatres of war are liable try be given, and to make use of, the. same tainted sort, of information that is heard on the air.

When, in addition to this, neutral find! that the Allied authorities are reticent, they are apt —and understandably so—to lend a readier ear to German tales. Partisan news, in the neutral viewpoint, is better than no news. Consider the Origin. Cabled messages, as well as magazine comment from neutral countries, must be regarded as suspect from the. point of view of German propaganda. The best of the neutral newspapers, such as the New York Times, go to considerable pains to obtain accurate and unbiassed information, hut it is wejl in reading oven these' messages to consider their origin and to ponder on the possibility of their having been based on propagandist statements.

For more than a generation New Zealand lias enjoyed probably the most comprehensive nows service in the world. The cream of the news is selected from a vast daily output in overseas countries, so that we, in our isolation, have become accustomed to a sort, ol’ bird’s-eye view of the international scene. f

WO are still enjoying that advantage, but the very fact of our news being comprehensive, leaves us open to tli6 shafts of the enemy propaganda, though they may be aimed—in the case of cabled news—in an indirect way.

it becomes a war-time job of the newspaper reader, in common with the magazine readier, the filmgoer and the radio listener, to guard himself and his community against the influences ol propaganda—influences from which he cannot be. protected in his or any other country which continues to enjoy freedom of choice in what is read, or heard on the,air.