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Show Government Short Wave Propaganda Machines Ma-chines Now Fight Wars Once Waged With Guns; Even Uncle Sam Does His Part! By JOSEPH W. LaBINE One hundred years ago Italy and Great Britain might have gone to war over their current differences in northern Africa. Today they forsake armed force in favor of a more subtle and more effective weapon. Short wave radio broadcasts are fighting the war in Palestine, just as Russia and Germany Ger-many are adopting an aerial offensive against each other. The whole world is engaged in a terrific battle of microphones, micro-phones, fighting with unending streams of propaganda that preach conflicting political philosophies into the beleaguered listener's ear. Americans know of this battle; they know how Russia, Great Britain. Italy and Germany are leading the attack with ers, locked so the owners could tune only British programs. Irrespective of the doctrines they preach, the short wave barons employ em-ploy similar tactics. Political speeches would become tiresome, so music is often interspersed. The favorite means of disseminating disseminat-ing propaganda is through "news reports." Interesting and informative, informa-tive, these broadcasts provide sugar-coated pills of bias for the credulous credu-lous listener. , Broadcasts are usually made in several languages. Italy transmits in English, Spanish, Serbian, Chinese, Chi-nese, Japanese, Turkish, Greek, French, Portuguese and Albanian. Few continents are more courted by broadcasters than South America. Amer-ica. Mussolini, catering to the Latin Lat-in kinship of his listeners, is making mak-ing a heavy play for our southern neighbors. But he must combat equally strong efforts on the part of Moscow, Germany and Great Britain. Brit-ain. The latter nation has just completed com-pleted new stransmitters for broadcasts broad-casts in Spanish and Portuguese to 85,000,000 South Americans. Brazilian Education. But the South Americans themselves them-selves appreciate radio's value in propagandizing. In Brazil, every radio ra-dio station must carry a government govern-ment program from 6:45 to 7:45 p. m. each day, prepared by the department de-partment of propaganda. South America is a natural hotbed of politics, poli-tics, because both Hitler and Mussolini Mus-solini enjoy encouraging the trend to absolutism now prevalent in that continent- powerful transmitters that emit propaganda 24 hours a day, aimed at every nation on earth. What many Americans do not realize is that their own nation is in the thick of the fray, preaching the "American "Ameri-can way" to impress foreign listeners with the soundness of democratic government. When President Roosevelt delivered his state-of-the-Union message to congress last winter, his words were sped to every corner of the earth by the National Broadcasting company com-pany and the Columbia Broadcasting Broadcast-ing System, in a series of transmissions trans-missions and re-transmissions that lasted until noon next day. Bow Europe Does It. Vet this display of propagandizing propagandiz-ing is but a tempest in a teacup, compared with Europe's businesslike business-like procedure. Almost every Old World nation has its governmental department devoted to preaching political doctrine. Germany, like other nations, has a definite "policy" of propaganda. Its broadcasts, by intensely powerful power-ful short wave, are directed first to reach "colonies" of overseas Ger- g, . , mans wherever they may be, making mak-ing them conscious of their ties to the fatherland and preaching Nazi philosophy. Germany's second purpose pur-pose is to build "good will," and third, to boast of the Nazi union's greatness and the justice of her aspirations. "Jamming" the Air Waves Naturally, one of Germany's biggest big-gest radio battles is with Russia, from whence come mighty surges of propaganda daily, aimed at Nazi receivers and preaching the Communist Com-munist doctrine. Germany's counter coun-ter procedure is to "jam" the air by filling the wave length with a noise so loud that it drowns the Moscow speaker. More dramatic by far was the recent radio clash between Great Britain and Italy. In Palestine, where revolts between Arabs and Jews have been commonplace and distressing, Great Britain charged Italy was fomenting trouble, wooing the Arabs via short wave broadcast. broad-cast. It was discovered that some-, one had thoughtfully provided Arabs with hundreds of radio sets, conveniently con-veniently locked so that only Italian stations could be tuned in. Great Britain immediately leveled powerful transmissions at the Arabs. She, too, distributed receiv- But the United Stfctes, conscious of South America's proximity, is not twiddling its thumbs. Both NBC and Columbia have established es-tablished international broadcasting departments. The former operates 16 hours a day via short wave in six languages, Spanish, Italian, French, German, English and Portuguese. The programs are "designed to provide pro-vide America's challenge to elaborate elabo-rate short wave systems broadcasting broadcast-ing programs throughout the vorld." Licensed Receivers. By contrast, two other democracies democra-cies Great Britain and France have government-operated systems which derive their revenue from listeners' licenses. With domestic radio under federal control, foreign short wave broadcasts can easily be justified as a supplementary service serv-ice to colonists and other "interested "interest-ed parties." In the world's mad attempt to contact people with short wave can be read two opposing purposes. The kindlier explanation is that foreign broadcasts are breaking down national na-tional boundaries and creating a greater understanding among the peoples of the earth. Unfortunately, such is not the case. Observers are convinced that in the last analysis radio is being boomed as part of a general preparation prepa-ration for war. When and if a conflict con-flict does come, these vast com- munication systems will be of inestimable in-estimable importance. Even as they are fought now, battles may be waged through the ether. Threats will be hurled to the enemy and counter-threats received. Germany's Germa-ny's experience in the World war, when her cables were cut and communication com-munication facilities were destroyed, de-stroyed, proves that the greater the number of channels of communication communi-cation under a country's control, the stronger the position of that nation in the event of war. Some say that radio favors the democracy in propaganda wars, because be-cause dictators refuse to risk the loss of that hypnotic effect afforded by personal appearances. If such is the case, Great Britain, Brit-ain, France and the United States may come through victorious in the current hostilities. But who can discount dis-count the threat of Europe, where only three out of thirty national broadcasting systems are privately owned and operated? Western Newspaper Union. |
