CO537-5142 — Page 5

CIRCULAR

96840/48

CONFIDENTIAL

COLONIAL

نادا

OFFICE

THE CHURCH HOUSE,

GREAT SMITH STREET,

LONDON, S.W.1.

14th May, 1948.

SIR,

Broadcasting in the Colonies

I have the honour to address you on the subject of the development of broadcasting services in the Colonies--a subject which was last discussed in the circular despatch dated the 21st October, 1936, of Mr. Ormsby Gore (now Lord Harlech). The development of broadcasting has been comparatively slow, mainly owing to the war, and I feel that it is desirable to consider what further action can now be taken and what policy should be followed in this important field.

2. There can be no doubt of the great potential value of an effective broadcasting service in every country. Recent events in the Gold Coast, for example, have underlined its value as a means of spreading widely and speedily authentic information and ideas, and of correcting false impressions and rumours in time of civil disturbance. The develop- ment in Malaya of broadcasts for schools in English and vernacular languages illustrates the wider possibilities of broadcasting as an instrument of education and training in citizenship and of cultural advancement. I appreciate that the development of broadcasting cannot be regarded as of equal urgency and importance in every Ĉolony, and I would not wish to urge the immediate establishment of local broadcasting services in areas where it cannot, owing perhaps to the backwardness or sparse distribution of the population, be of much practical use. Nevertheless, there can be little doubt that the quickening pace of social, economic and political development in the Colonies will make it necessary to introduce broadcasting services almost everywhere sooner or later. Moreover, even in those Colonies where it may not be thought practicable to provide a broadcasting service accessible to the bulk of the population in the immediate future, it may well be desirable to make available now to the influential minority a service capable of being extended to a progressively wider audience as future circumstances may demand. I hope, therefore, that every Colonial Government will consider whether its existing arrangements for broad- casting are adequate; and, in the case of those Colonies without broadcasting services, whether some action can now be taken to develop such services, if not for the whole population, then at least for those residing in urban areas where the population is likely to be more receptive of broadcasting and where development can be undertaken at lesser cost.

3. I turn now to the question of the policy which should, I suggest, be followed in regard to broadcasting services. The Report of the Committee on Broadcasting Services, which formed the enclosure to the circular despatch of the 21st October, 1936, recom- mended that broadcasting services should be operated under the direct control of Colonial Governments. I warmly endorse this recommendation, and I regret that many Colonial Governments have found themselves compelled to deviate from it owing to the difficulty which they have experienced in finding the necessary finance to develop broadcasting as a public service, and owing to the willingness of commercial companies to develop broad- casting or rediffusion services on seemingly attractive terms. I refer below to the problem of finance, but I would here reiterate the view that, even though commercial broadcasting may be subject to strict government control and be operated with restraint and under- standing by its sponsors, its operations are necessarily governed by the desire to earn a profit from the community, and it must largely waste the educational and administrative opportunities which broadcasting offers. Moreover, if commercial concerns are allowed to acquire vested interests in providing services for the more profitable areas, the extension of broadcasting to the less profitable areas may be seriously prejudiced. I am firmly of opinion, therefore, that commercial companies should not be encouraged to undertake broadcasting or rediffusion services in the Colonies. Such an expedient should be con- sidered only as a last resort if it has been clearly established first, that there is a definite need for setting up a broadcasting service, and secondly that there is no practicable way of financing it as a public service. I would ask Colonial Governments to give these matters very careful consideration, and to keep me informed of any overtures which may be made in future to them by commercial companies before any commitment is entered into.

4. The development of broadcasting services by Colonial Governments has, of course, hitherto been limited almost entirely by lack of finance. The operation of an effective broadcasting service requires substantial capital and recurrent expenditure, which there is little hope of recovering, at least for several years, in territories where receiving licences can be neither numerious nor high. Moreover, substantial expenditure has hitherto been needed to provide listening facilities for the colonial peoples, few of whom can afford to purchase their own receivers. As regards the latter difficulty, there are now grounds for hope that British radio manufacturers may soon, for the first time, be able

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