BROADCASTING IN THE BRITISH ELECTIONS.

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 47, 7 June 1929, Page 6

BROADCASTING IN THE BRITISH ELECTIONS.

THE most interesting event in the radio world in the past week has been the part played in the British elections by broadcasting. ‘Although for long the use of the microphone was banned to cottroversial and political subjects in Britain, such a pressure was exereised by public opinion that eventually the Government permitted the door. to be opened for the inclusion of the treatment before the microphone of both controversial and political subjects. The British Broadcasting Corporation was charged, however, with the responsibility of seeing that controversial subjects were handled equitably and justly by acknowledged experts, and in the political field that equity was preserved as between the contending parties. QUITE notable reactions on the part of the electors have been noted ‘to the use of the microphone. Observers’ comments have noted that the election has been one of the quietest on record from the point of view of popular demonstration. This is attributed directly to the fact that the microphone has carried into the homes of the people the considered statements of the leaders, that thereby there not been the occasion for such intensive popular feeling at actual meetings as has existed in the past, and that as a consequence there has disappeared from the political arena many of those features of popular demonstration which have in the past been associated with political gatherings. There can be no question that the use of broadcasting will have a psychological reaction upon the community. It will call into being a new technique in the art of popular oratory. In the Parliaments of the world the tendency of the past century. has been to advance reasoned explanations at the cost of flowery eloquence. Gone are the days when House of Commons thrilled to the impassioned oratory of an individual speaker. Now it is the considered statement of reason which commands attention and respect. The same tendency has been noted in our own Parliamentary circles. The microphone will now carry into the popular field this trend, and lead to a higher appreciation of piain straight-forward statements, backed by reason. This must be regarded as an advance. Decisions reached under the influence of mob _ psychology, inflamed by momentary eloquence, are not always sound. The mob in the past has proved very easily led. The actual contact between speaker and audience facilitates the transfer of mab psychology. Enlargement of the audience by the microphone and

the disassociation of physical contact between the speaker and his audience will thrust mere mob oratory into the background and increase the importance of reason and common sense. The election just fought, from this point of view, establishes a milestone in political history. It is the first in British history in which modern methods have been employed to educate and solicit the considered decision of the mass of electors. Necessarily the method has come to stay. It will be improved upon in future years, so that ultimately a steady advance will be made towards the ideal of a fully-informed electorate giving its balanced judgment. Only under those conditions will the voice of the people become the voice of God. THE experience of the British election, following on the recent Presidential campaign in the United States, where also broad~casting played an important part, will not be lost upon New Zealand. As things stand, the microphone is barred to politicians and political messages at present. It is not likely that this ruling will stz permanently. The advantages offered by broadcasting for the diffusion of information concerning policies and plans are so great that it is inevitable that they shall be utilised, under guidance and judicious restraint, for the benefit of our widely-scattered electorates. It is likely, in our view, that the next election held in this country, whenever that may be, will see the employment of broadcasting as a means of securing the considered decisions of all electors.