B.B.C. BROADCASTS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 202, 27 July 1937, Page 3

8.8. C. BROADCASTS.

REVIEW OF EMPIRE .SERVICE. DIRECTOR INTERVIEWED. Per Pre6s Association. AUCKLAND, July 26. Mischievous and misleading reports were responsible for a statement that the main reason for his visit to various parts of the Empire was to find ways of counteracting subversive propaganda from German and Italian shortwave stations, said Mr J. Beresford Clark, director of the 8.8. C. Empire Service, who arrived from Sydney today. He Aaid it was not the intention of the 8.8. C. to indulge in a radio war tor supremacy over European countries. “There has been a Jot of nonsense talked about my trip,” said Mr Clark, “and as recently as last ,weelion Australian weekly paper published an article which attempted to show that the British authorities were agitated about foreign propaganda among Empire' listeners and would take appropriate steps to combat it. The paper went to the length of saying that the majority of Australians invariably tuned their sets to German stations. Actually, in various Empire countries I have visited, 1 found almost universal satisfaction expressed with the programme sent from Daventry.’ Mr Clark went on to Suva to-day and will return from there to make a survey in New Zealand. He was not here to indulge in anti-Nazi tactics, as ono English paper had expressed it, but to discover how British transmissions were being received and in which direction they were found to be lacking in quality and interest. His visit had no political or international significance whatever. Political broadcasts from foreign stations had been studied in the past two years or more, and, in the opinion of the 8.8. C. the-best way of countering the propaganda was to develop a justified reputation tor accurate reporting of news in a completely objective way from a very broad Imperial standpoint. To counter propaganda with propaganda in the direct sense would be ridiculous. “We are not aiming at serving Mew Zealand all day long,” he said. “We now aro broadcasting 18 hours a day, split into six periods of transmission, each one primarily directed to some part of the Empire at what is likely to be a convenient time for local listening. It is impossible to eater for differing tastes in different parts of the Empirp simultaneously, but in other parts of tho Empire the over-all .verdict is that the new transmitters have given improved reception. I am surprised to learn that in New Zealand the majority of listeners prefer the German shortwave programmes.”