* * * * Broadcasting and the British Colonies The
Federation of British Industries has raised a point of great importance in regard to British colonies and broadcasting. The president points out in a letter to Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister that many colonies, especially in Africa, the Levant and the West Indies, are served -by programmes sent out from foreign countries in the language of the inhabitants. The presentation day by day of news and opinions from a non-British or possibly even anti-British point of view is an insidious form of propaganda which, in the absence of publicity giving facts as they arc seen by Britons, is capable of doing incalculable harm. Such propaganda would be innocuous if the British' view were receiving adequate presentation, but in many cases it is not. The B.B.C. is perfectly capable of supplying a fair and suitable service—if it were provided with the necessary funds, and there could be found by a remission of some part of that large contribution which the B.B.C. makes to the Treasury from licence-fees. The case for the acceptance Of this plan is a strong one. To provide means of defence against attack by ideas is as necessary as to provide defence against attack by armed forces. And no attack by ideas is so penetrating as a broadcast attack.
Previous page
