Parliamentand Broadcasting. by IAN FRASER
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Radia Times,December 51; 1920 A MESSAGE FROM THE EARL OF CLARENDON. Eouthern Ech ret snE neniens (etal Aras he ee AE five RPO Ia UMELAY Lae Puanceeste aerate * a rita fr taee auN i : : tg,Eh ma i ine : waley my ry =i sie AL The journal of the British Broadcasting Corporation, = Wik ee aa ee gle & Vol. 14. No. 170, [,.332t5.... DECEMBER 31, 1926. ~ Every Friday. Two Pence. - Parliamentand Broadcasting. By IAN FRASER. [Captain Ion Fraser, WP, is chairman of St. measure with their manifold duties, and have and always have been matters upon which Dunston's, and wae a member of Lord Crawford's unfortunately little time to investigate by it is not merely reasonable, but desirable, that Committers on Broadcasting.. In the following their own research everyone of the multi- Members of Parliament should inform them- article he seeks for (he reasons why Parliament tude of public questions that come before selves; * fags so far behind the pudlia in taking an interest them. They must give a preference to those It is noticeable how few of the important tm al thal has (a do with broadcasting. | subjects which insist upon-their attention newspapers devoted much space to the prob- because of the interest which they arouse in lem in its wider aspect before and after the HY does Parliament take so little their constituencies. Parliamentary debate. Even amongst the interest in broadcasting ? It may But why does not the future of broad- more serious papers, with two or three notable be that an attempt to. answer this casting intrude itself upon their attention exceptions, there was a curious absence of question will help listeners to gam a correct in such a way that study of its progress thoughtful suggestions or reasoned writing. and lose a wrong impression, becomes compulsory ? Surely it is a matter Is this, I woncler, due to lack of vision or Recently Parliament made a decision of of vital interest to a Member's constituents ? appreciation of what broadcasting is going very great importance with regard to the It undoubtedlyis, but does it impinge upon tobe andtodo? Ithink not, There is.n0 future conduct of the broadcasting service in the consciousness of an ordinary Member of man s6 competent to visualize the extra- this country. To make this decision con- Parliament? IT think not. First, there ordinary potentialities of broadcasting as sideration had to be given to a variety of is no grievance about it. Nobody has been the editor or leader-writer. I wonder if very important matters, including principles deprived of something he or she cherishes. there is some subconscious thought of self- of taxation, the incalculable effect of broad- On the contrary all have had, owing to the defence behind this reticence—a perfectly c a s t i n g upon adult education, the use or” initiative: of the B.B.C., more “than they natural fecling that this vastly powerful abuse of. broadcasting by politicians. and could have expected or even imagined pos- agency, capable of reaching homes which controversialists, and the relations of the sible. Then it is not dear; on the contrary, newspapers seldom enter, and capable of broadcasting service to the newspaper press, . it is surprisingly cheap, the best ten-shillings- forcing itself imto all homes, may be a Yet only a thin House listened to the debate, worth [ know, and so another possible cause young and dangerous rival. and it was all over at half-past eight, when of public agitation—or shall 1 say, interest ? the Howse is accustomed to sit till eleven —is absent. W/BATEVER may be the cause, | am sure o'clock. Perhaps in the past the man in the street that the lack of interest. shown. by 1 wonder if one reason is that Members of has not fully realized that many aspects the Press in this subject has had its effect Parliament are bad listeners ? Perhaps. be- of broadcasting tonch insistently upon large upon Members of Parliament. Members, I cause we are always t a l k i n g ourselves, or questions of public policy and are therefore think, come to rely upon the newspapers, possibly merely because our evenings are so very much subjects about which their Member though many might at first deny it, to call taken up.with duties in the Howse and in should be informed, and in regard to which their attention to matters which are exer- our constituencies that we have not time to questions may legitimatelybe asked of him. cising the public mind. The instinct of the listen. This might account for, i t , for we Ido not mean that he ought in the past or newspaper man is a'sure guide in so man a r e naturally interested i n things more or under the hew constitution to be held respon- cases that perhaps it is too frequently relied less in proportion t o the extent to which sible for the detail or-even the principles of UPeOr. they touch our own lives, My own view is programme management, but questions such lam convinced that the measure of atten- a that t h i s is not the main cause, but that it as interference, the inadequate covering of tion which newspapers pay to what might SS is certainly a contributory cause. a district with powerful transmission, the be called the politics of broadcasting isnot a. ' The principal reason i s , 1 think, that broadcasting of inadequate news or the a true reflection of the public interest that Members of Parliament are busy beyond withholding. of essential news, certainly are (Continged at foot of col. 3, page 2.) H s — — RADIO TIMES — [Decemngr dl, 1936, a —y Intelligence or Reason? Old Times and New Needs. Professor J. Arthur Thomson on the Mind of Animals. Talks for Country Listeners. [Fn theta, the last of hie wo'able series of Talks An old and simple experiment with horses BECIENING carly in ihe New Year, two special on ‘The Mind of Animals” (fve of which have hints at some appreciation of quantity, if not of number. The horse waa offered on a tahle a choice berica oof -talke designed especially—though ajready been pullished in Turn Rapio Tawes), £’re- cf course not exelusively—tor members of Women's jessor Thomson sums wp the evidence for and between ene lump of sugar and two or three lumps, Institutes will be hroadenat on Weilnesday after- and it always preferred the more than one.. Yet, agains the belief that animals show (races of a neces atc45 pom. tis hoped that many Institutes it showed no preference for three lamps aa con- raliénal mind, and decides that they may have will be able to fit these talks. into their ordinary trasted with twa, nielligence, Dut Heason belongs jo wetn alone.) Programme, especially when it ia realized that the The same kind of experiment mado with hens courses will be given by leetorera who are experi: ad N tho couree of this seriee of broadcast talka, yielded somewhat eurpricing results. Certain enced in making their subjects interesting to the i <1) wo have taken a rapid survey of the mental kinds of hen had no hesitation in preferring a ten- general listener, Wednesday has been grain. heap to a aix-grain heap, or even in preferring chosenfor activity of animals, from the highly intelligent this new series because itis known to be the day.on apes to the highly instinctive ants, and down to three grains to two, four to three, five to four, whichalorpe number of Institutes mect, and 23.45 a much lower level in the poorly endowed, yet and tix to five. But it is possible that the choice wi othe earliest time available in the afternoon very effective, earthworms, Let ua now turn to was basedon a volumetric rather than ona numerical programme, These who cannot arrange to listen a few probleme that we had to pasa by the way. estimate, So when a brooding bird is troubled with the other members of their Institute may be ere Have animala langage? The strict answer over the theft of three eggs out of six, itis, perhaps, able to listen in their homes, and those Institutes not more than dimly aware of «a quantitative ehould be No: but certain saving clauses are which have no wireless eet of their own may perhape disturbance in the picture of in the tactile sensa- neceszary. True language meana the expression be able to listen in the school-hougeof in aome other of a judgment by means of socially imitated tions. hospitable quartera, Theas courses will be broad- It would take too long to disensa with fairness east from London and Daventry, and, it is hoped sounds. Many animals such as apes, dogs, parrota, the difficult case of “the thinking horses of Elber- and rooks have words, which express definite from. all provincial stations, — : emotions, like anger, fear, and Jove ; or indicate feld” that used to stamp out the answers to arith- The series will be inangurated on Wednesday, eee metical questions written on the board; but it January 12th, at $49 pom, by a talk by Lady certain things, like food and danger. may be said that when they came to extracting But no animal makes a tentence, and though Denman, whose keen interest in all that haa $6 do | cube roota, (hey prored too meh, The probability a dog*may manage to express approbation, it with the Instituto movement is penerally known. i# that the horses took advantage of conscious or ka does notiar eo in so many words.