PRESS AND RADIO

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 466, 28 May 1948, Page 17

PRESS AND RADIO

Harmonious Relations in U.S.

66 O politics, if you don’t | \ mind. My organisation deals solely with objective reporting--we don’t express our own opinions." That answer ruled out four or five of the half-dozen or so questions we had intended to ask Frank H. Bartholomew, Vice-president and anager of the Pacific Division, United Press of America, when he was in Wellington the other day. He was on his first visit to New Zealand, the furthest part of his association’s territory,

which covers 11 Western American States, Alaska, Hawaii, Fiji, Panama, Central America, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. But he was willing to talk about the relations between radio and Press in America-that was "right up his alley." "There was a time," he said, "when the Press organisations of the United States were determined to .minimise radio news broadcasts. Then a committee was formed by the Publishers’ Associations to give news free to radio; in effect to discourage radio from buying its own news. The arrangement was for five-minute broadcasts morning and evening, which meant a considerable time-lag in presenting news to the public. At first the newspaper proprietors were scared of broadcasting and its competition in advertising.’ But commonsense won out, as happily, it often does, and some of the newspapers went in for their own radio stations. We found, by trial and error, that radio didn’t hurt us one iota; actually it whets the public appetite for the printed news." "So now you work in harmony with radio and everybody’s happy?" "Sure. We operate our separate news system for broadcasting, writing material for the ear as well as the eye." "That, of course, means using two different forms of technique?" "True. For radio consumption we see that the news is compiled in simple terms, easily followed, and set out so that the news-broadcaster doesn’t get a big bunch of sibilants, ‘or instance, al!

in one sentence." Some of the American universities and colleges ran their own radio stations, putting out high-level programmes on educational lines, said Mr. Bartholomew. The combined operations of the British and American United Press Associations had been most satisfactory. The American organisation served the BBC and the Australian Associated Press, which, in turn, served the New Zealand Press Association. The American service to the BBC started the day the last war was declared and had continued ever since. The American section of U.P. had set up an exclusive "leased wire" (or teletype circuit) connecting the capital cities of all the countries of Europe. The news was transmitted first in English and secondly in the language of the countries served. World News and Peace "We believe that the free dissemination and interchange of news and general information to be in the interests of world peace," said Mr. Bartholomew. "All this news travels at the rate of 60 words a minute for 12 hours a day. We hope that eventually all English-speak-ing countries will be in the link. The inclusion of New Zealand might come within the next three or four years. With the co-operation of the Telecommunications Commission we have already run off tests with Australia and they have been quite satisfactory. Hawaii gathers and sends back to America from 10 to 12 news stories about the Pacific every day." "How," we asked, "do you collect news about New Zealand?" "Our Sydney bureau lvoks after Australian and New Zealand news items and we have correspondents in Wellington and Auckland." "Are you likely to establish a bureau in New Zealand?" . "Certainly; as interest in New Zealand increases. And that interest is mounting all the time. Our G.L’s gave it a great fillip. They came home full of talk about this lovely place and we believe that as well as tourist interest you have trade possibilities." Mr. Bartholomew surprised us when he said that, as far as he knew, there was no national publication in the United States dealing with broadcasting -such as The Listener, although there were magazines concerning broadcasters alone. He added that the U.P. was considerably interested in the coming Royal tour. It would be given the fullest coverage, he said. =