| Show B A T at L em 0 F M rift r R az ta 7 A A N q W r X an A 4 4 T government short wave propaganda aMa machines chi ads now fight wars once waged with guns even uncle sam does docs his part by JOSEPH VV 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 eff effective weapon short wave radio broadcasts are fighting the war in palestine just as russia and germany are adopting an aerial offensive against each other the whole world is engaged in a terrific battle of microphones fighting with unending streams of propaganda that preach conflicting political philosophies into the beleaguered beleaguer ed listeners ear americans know of this battle they know how russia great britain italy and germany are leading the attack with powerful transmitters that tha emit propaganda 24 hours a days day aimed at every nation on earth wh what at mapy many americans do not realize is that their own nation is in the thick of the fray preaching the american 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 and the columbia broadcasting system in a series of trans missions and transmissions re that lasted until noon next day how europe does it yet this display of propagandize ing is but a tempest in a teacup compared with Eu ropes businesslike procedure almost every old world nation has its governmental department devoted to preaching political doctrine germany me like other nations has a deft definite nite policy of propaganda its broadcasts by intensely powerful short wave are directed first to reach colonies of overseas ger mans wherever they may be making them conscious of their ties to the fatherland and preaching nazi germanas germanys Germ anys second purpose is t to build good will and third to boast of the nazi unions greatness and the justice of her aspirations jamming the air waves naturally one of german germanas germanys Germ anys s biggest radio battles Is As with russia from whence come mighty surges of propaganda anda daily aimed at na nazi zi i receivers and preaching the communist doctrine germanys germanas Germ anys counter 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 Grent britain charged italy was fomenting trouble wooing the arabs arab q via short wave broad cast it was discovered that someone had thoughtfully brov provided aided arabs with hundreds of radio sets conveniently locked so that only italian stations could be tuned in great britain immediately leveled powerful transmissions at the arabs she too distributed receive N r W W IV V kl P 4 3 q huge short wave antennae the weapon in this modern struggle between democracies and dictatorships these are the masts of a polish government station ers locked so the owners could tune only british programs irrespective ot of the doctrines they preach the short wave barons employ slin similar flar tactics political speeches would become tiresome so music is often interspersed the favorite means of disseminating propaganda is through news reports interesting and informative these broadcasts provide sug ar coated pills of bias for the credulous listener broadcasts are usually made in several languages italy transmits in english spanish serbian chinese japanese turkish greek french portuguese and albanian few continents are more courted by broadcasters than south america i mussolini ca catering to the lotin latin kinship of his listeners is making a heavy play for our southern neighbors but he must combat equally strong efforts on the part oi moscow germany and great britain the latter nation nas as just completed new stran for broadcasts in spanish and portuguese guese to south americans brazilian education but the south americans themselves appreciate radios value in propagandizing izing in brazil every radio station must carry a government program from 6 45 to p m each day prepared by the department part ment of propaganda south america is a natural hotbed of polities politics because both hitler and mussolini enjoy encouraging the trend to absolutism now prevalent in that continent but the united states conscious of south americas proximity is not twiddling its thumbs both NBC and columbia have established international broadcasting departments the former operates 16 hours a day via short wave ln in six languages spanish italian french german english and portuguese the programs ar are e designed to pro vide americas challenge to elaborate short wave systems broadcasting programs program ls throughout the horld licensed receivers by contrast two other democracies great britain and france hava government operated systems which derive their revenue from listeners licenses with domestic radio under federal control foreign short wave broadcasts can easily be bej justified as a supplementary service to colonists and other interest Inte reit ed parties in the worlds mad attempt to contact people with short wave can be read two opposing purposes the kin kindlier dller explanation Is that foreign broadcasts are breaking down national 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 for war when and if a conflict does come these vast communication muni cation systems will bo be of inestimable es importance even as they are fought now battles battles may be waged through the ether threats will be hurled to the enemy and counter threats received germa nys experience in the world war when her cables were cut and communication m muni uni cation facilities were destroyed st proves that the greater th the number of channels of communication under a count rys control the stronger the position ot of that nation in the event of war some say that radio favors the democracy in propaganda wars because dictators refuse to risk tho the loss of that hypnotic effect afforded by personal appearances if such is the case great britain france and the united states may come through victorious in the current hostilities but who can discount the threat of europe where only y three out of thirty national broadcasting systems are privately owned and operated a 0 western newspaper urd |
