RADIO JITTERS

Radio Record, 14 April 1938, Page 14

RADIO JITTERS

Riding Orders Given For The Ether HILE Hitler thunders forth messages over the air thet meke nonGerman listeners wake in cold sweets, other nations, including the British, take the deliberate policy of putting the mute on anything likely to irritate or provoke the rulers who fill the air with the threats of their unrest.

By

JACK

DAW

T may ginger up a radio programine from the listeners’ angle to hear a reference on the air to "a little man with hard eyes and a toothbrush moustache who is changing the map of Europe," but it may also these days be the means of returning station officials home to the bosom of their families without their jobs. . When Hitler made his dramatic move to reunite Austria with Germany, a curious complaint seemed to attack the radio stations of Britain and the Dominions. It might have been called radio jitters, Perhaps a more dignified name to give it would be radio discretion. It applies in New Zealand, though here the policy has been exercised as a matter of principle before it became a definite instruction.

HILE- some nations are ising radio for viotent propaganda, thers (Britain among them) are being particalarly careful to put nothing on the air which might supply the spark for an explosion. The upshot ot this policy is that stations throughout the Empire appear to have had a request, tantamount to au order, that they should refrain from broadeasting anything that might be a source of irritation overseas. At the back of this policy of radie

discretion, no doubt, is the international convention on the use of broadcasting in the cause of peace, adopted at the conference held in Geneva in 1936, which has heen ratified by eight States and came into force on April 2 last. States which ratified the convention are, in order of their ratification: The United Kingdom, Australia, India, Luxemburg, New Zealand, Denmark, Brazil and the Union of South Africa. Under the convention, the contracting parties mutually undertake to prohibit and, if occasion arises, to stop without delay the broadcasting within their respective territories of any transmission which, to the detriment of good international understanding, is of such a character as to incite the population of any territory to acts incompatible

with the internal order or the security of a territory of a@ contracting party. In addition, the signatories of the convention mutually undertake to ensure that transmissions from stations’ within their respective territories shal] not constitute an incitement either to war against another contracting party or to acts likely to lead thereto. HE strict observance of the convention, plus what seems to be & certain nervousness on the part of high authorities as to the danger of radio’s ‘influence on (Gont..on p. 38.)

Radio Jitters

Had Riding Orders (Continued from page 14.) unsettling the public mind in times of international stress, has led to recent direct action. The facts to light are these: The BBC cancelled a recent talk by Colonel J, C. Wedgwood, M.P.. Sydney station that spoke of the steel-shed boots of marching Germans echoing from Berlin to Vienna Was quickly told to cease. Adelaide radio speaker Father W. J. Ryan, who was to have given a talk over a Nationa] station on _,"In Austria Before the War," was ' instructed at very short notice to change the subject of his address, and spoke on his studies of earthquakes, Confidential wire was despatched to ali Commercial stations in Australia by the Australian DirectorGeneral of Postal Services instructing them to avoid provocative comments on the international situation. I England, the part of Colonel Wedg‘wood’s speech to which the BBC took exception ran as follows: "What Hitler wants is Austria, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, some of Poland and the Ukraine, and, I hope, the Southern Tyrol, not to mention Switzerland, Alsace-Lor-raine, Schleswig-Holstein and Malmedy. Mussolini is more moderate: he requires Majorca, Malta, Sicilia, Pales- tine, Egypt, Arabia, Tunis, and the control of Spain. Probably they both want a loan from us as well." On the other hand, the BBC did not object specifically to this passage in Colonel Wedgwoo0d’s speech, referring to concessions to Germany, Italy and Japan: , "These tyrants are militarists by nature. They are grabbers by philosophy. Every concession made either to Hitler or Mussolini has enabled him to turn to his own countrymen and show that his philosophy and policy ig the right one," HE demand that came to the Australian radio services says that on account of the extremely delicate position overseas it is important for all stations to avoid provocative comments on any subjects which might be a source of irritation in the present circumstances, when considerable sensitiveness is in evidence, This applies particularly to prominent personages holding positions of responsibility concerned with international relationships. According to the request of the Post-master-General in Australia, there is also a danger in giving publicity to rumours before they have been verified. He asks the co-operation of stations in the "confident knowledge" that extreme care will be exercised to avoid any cause for complaint. N Sydney one Commercial station decided to liven up a session entitled "Time Marches On" by referring to a "little man with hard eyes and a toothbrush moustache who was changing the map of WBurope," but it was (Continued on page 41.)

Radio Jitters’.. |

(Continued from page 35.) quickly notified that such statements would not be allowed. PPARENTLY National station managers in Australia have been given the same advice ag those guiding the destinies of the Commercial stations, When the manager of the ABC in Adelaide. (Colonel Thomas) noticed that Father Ryan was due to give a talk on "In Austria Before the War" he requested him to change the subject. This was done with only a few hours to spare, and Father Ryan, without the aid of notes, spoke on his studies of earthquakes. Colonel Thomas said later that he had requested Father Ryan to change the talk entirely on his own initiative, and without any instructions from headquarters, He had done this in order not to take risks during what he considered to be a very delicate time. Colonel Thomas explained that in its written form the talk would have been quite in order, for anyone seeing the complete address would have had no doubt of what was meant. But he had known so many instances where a radio speaker had been misunderstood, because some listener had heard a few words only, that he wished nothing to happen which could be misconstrued or exaggerated. At the same time, however, ABC officials' in Sydney allowed another talk on Austria to be given over the air. Nina Murdoch, widely travelled Australian woman, spoke at some length over the National stations from Sydney on "Is This the Austria I Knew?" and in describing the poverty and incidents she encountered there showed that there were powerful reasons for the tumultuous welcome of Hitler. But this talk apparently was permitted because it would not be considered "irritating" to Germany.