BROADCASTING TRUTH rp HE latest crisis in Europe has forced
the democratic nations, somewhat belatedly, into a stock-taking of the weapons they still possess with which to preserve the peace. Among them is one whose value can hardly be overrated. Most of the discoveries of modern science have unfortunately proved more easily adaptable to the service of war than of peace ; the wireless is one which, though it can easily be diverted to other ends, may be made the most effective force for peace in the world to- day. It is the most powerful instrument of persuasion and propaganda that has ever been created. Across frontiers and over the heads of Governments and poli- ticians it can speak directly to the people of every nation, with a personal voice which is more immediately effective than print can ever be. Even when Govern- ments are most divided it can ensure that their peoples are not. Even in the middle of acute crises, or of war itself, it can maintain and nourish that international solidarity which is the only sure foundation of peace. Amid the fanatic ravings of dictators it can speak with the still small voice of reason which will ensure that men and women have the means to form an independent judgement on their desperate situation—first and fore- most on the responsibility of their Governments, which have brought it about.
Of course, like all good things, it is also a power for evil ; and Hitler and Goebbels have been swift and effi- cient in making the radio the servant of lies, hatred and hysteria, in using it to create fanaticism, to corrupt, to mislead and to misinform. Yet it appears that, in this type of propaganda, the law of diminishing returns applies very strictly. Even Dr. Goebbels finds that his propaganda, by its very extremism, by its monotonous repetition of promises that are not kept and assurances that everyone knows to be false, ceases to carry convic- tion; the people is unmoved and indifferent. And exter- nally his output, though it may be a source of irrita- tion to other Governments, has relatively little effect, except perhaps on backward peoples. All the vitupera- tion poured forth on the Austrian Government by Herr Habicht in Munich, the abuse showered on President Benes from Berlin, did not convert or weaken the Austrian and Czech peoples ; the lie failed, and the sword had to be employed to remedy its failure.
By contrast, it is worth noticing the widespread and trustworthy reports from Germany on the success of the B.B.C.'s foreign broadcasts. The following, for example, comes from a German source, Westfalen, in the Rhineland. "The German broadcasts from British stations are gradually reaching many German listeners. The broadcasts are on the whole effective, because they avoid being offensive. Especially the objective reports on the facts of British rearmament, and on the unity of France and Britain, the accounts of British constitutionalism and British democracy, make a good impression on German listeners. The broad- casts give the listeners courage and help to prevent the mass of the people from falling into complete intellec- tual and political apathy." Such reports could be paralleled from every part of Germany ; and the denun- ciations of the broadcasts by the German Press, and by Herr Hitler himself, are further evidence of their efficacy. The reports also emphasise the fact that the objectivity and restraint of the broadcasts make them far more persuasive than the Moscow broadcasts, which offend by their exaggeration and their patently propa- gandist tone.
It seems, indeed, as if the British have not yet lost the skill in propaganda on which they have been so warmly complimented by Herr Hitler in Mein Kampf. Given the limited resources which have as yet been expended on propaganda abroad, the success obtained is remarkable. No doubt foreigners will attribute the success to the Machiavellian subtlety and cunning of this country, and perhaps they arc right ; but the cunning consists chiefly in realising that for such propaganda the best slogan is "Truth will prevail." This daring assumption has been justified by results ; most of all because the Germans have had such a surfeit of lies that truth has all the charm of novelty, and because Nazi policies and the Nazi philosophy are of such a kind that they can be made permanently persuasive only by rigidly suppressing the truth. The Press has been censored ; the German wireless handed over to Dr. Goebbels ; all organs of pub- licity and discussion gleichgeschaltet ; but so far it has been impossible to silence the voice—the somewhat languid voice—which comes over the air and reports the mere facts of the situation. So long as that voice pene- trates the prison which is Germany, it will be one of the Nazis' most dangerous enemies and one of the greatest forces working for peace.
Its work will not be done, however, merely by giving objective reports. The truth does indeed enlighten, it strengthens, it explains ; in itself it cannot inspire that positive attitude towards the evils that threaten Europe which is necessary if peace is to be preserved. The foreign broadcasts must speak for democracy to the world, and democracy is not a matter of truth alone. It is a matter of ideals which give men and women the courage to resist tyranny and oppression and oppose injustice, and the belief that it is possible to create a world in which all nations can live happily and prosper- ously together. The object of the radio's message to the world is not to break the moral of "enemy peoples," nor to create doubt and despair and disillu- sion, for in them there is no hope ; it is to propa- gate, in all countries, including Britain, a belief in freedom and in peaceful methods which will ensure that, whatever foreign Governments may do, their peoples shall not be our enemies. Such a belief neces- sarily includes the assurance to all nations that demo- cracy is a system which can guarantee peace, justice, and prosperity for all ; that if driven into war it will not fight for selfish interests, nor in a spirit of hatred or revenge ; that the peace it desires is one by which no nation shall suffer wrong. To preach this message with all the means it can command is the function which, in democratic countries, the wireless has to fulfil ; by doing so it can give back to the democracies that moral and spiritual leadership which must be theirs if Europe and the world are to be preserved from the ruin that threatens to overwhelm them.
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