Broadcasting (Jan - June 1940)

Import of News Ends Rivalry of Radio and Press Competing Media Cooperating To Bring Clear Versions By BRUCE ROBERTSON WHILE Allied and Nazi armies were battling in Europe, radio kept millions of anxious Americans informed of every turn in the tide of battle. The nationwide networks added extra pickups from abroad to their daily schedules, bringing not only news of the battle front but also of England's feverish preparations for invasion. The magnitude of covering the European war which, whatever its outcome, is bound to effect seriously the future course of life on this as well as the other side of the Atlantic, has caused an almost total disappearance of the normal rivalry between radio and the press and even between individual networks for "scoops". Everyone is concentrating on the job of bringing to the American public a clear, concise and above all correct picture of occurrences abroad. Never has radio more truly strived to fulfill its public service function. Normal Schedules At the newsrooms of the networks, however, few signs of extraordinary activity are visible. There are more people on duty than usual at any one time and some of the faces reflect the strain of working extra hours under high tension, but the work of gathering news from the teletypes of the press associations and the shortwave receivers that are constantly tuned to the transmitters of Europe and of getting it on the air proceeds quietly and without confusion. The large black-lettered signs — "Please do not enter the newsroom except on urgent business" — which were prominently displayed on the 17th floor of the CBS Bldg., have come down. Not since the night of May 9-10, when German armies first invaded Holland and Belgium, have the networks stayed on the air all night. Seldom is a regularly scheduled program interrupted for a war bulletin, although available sustaining time is frequently preempted for a special news broadcast. Except for broadcasts of transcendental importance, such as that of King George VI of Great Britain on May 24, which take precedence over all other programs, normal schedules have been maintained. Personnel Supplemented At CBS headquarters. Jack Gerber, formerly with Time magazine and the National Youth Administration, has joined the special affairs staff as assistant to Ed Johnson, foreign news editor, and several part-time workers have also been added. In addition to its regular 8 a.m. and 6:45 p.m. broadcasts from European capitals, CBS now has a five-minute news summary at 9:25 a.m., Monday through Friday, and at 10:30 each evening Maj. George Fielding Eliot is featured in a 15-minute broadcast that also includes reports from abroad Censorship Methods of Foreign Nations In American Pickups Cited by Jordan DESPITE the severe censorship imposed by the warring nations of Europe upon broadcasts to America, the governments of those countries give American broadcasters every consideration possible in times of war and cooperate as much as they can to keep open the radio channels from their capitals in the homes of the American public, according to Max Jordan, NBC representative in Central Europe. Dr. Jordan arrived in this country May 13 for conferences with A. A. Schechter, NBC director of news and special events, concerning the future coverage of happenings abroad, and returned to Europe via Clipper plane May 21. Describing the systems of censorship of the various governments. Dr. Jordan said that London was the easiest place for an American to broadcast from and Berlin the most difficult. The English censors are all former members of the BBC executive staff and hence are familiar with the problems of the broadcaster. The correspondent, he explained, merely jots down the notes for his talk and goes over them with the censor before going on the air. But in Paris or Berlin full scripts must be written and submitted to the censor well in advance of the broadcast time. In Paris, Dr. Jordan added, the censor's office is a half-mile or so from the broadcasting studio, causing some breathless dashes across the city when copy is held up in the censoring process. Berlin Procedure In Berlin, he reported, three copies of the broadcast script must be submitted for approval — one to the propaganda office, one to the foreign office and one to the military censor. Without the three OK's on the master script, the American radio correspondent is not allowed to go on the air. This three-way censorship frequently works for the broadcaster, Dr. Jordan explained, as well as against him, as sometimes the censors of one branch will help him overcome protests of the other censors. The day of the invasion of Norway, he said, he was trying to give a brief outline of the situation and mentioned the Swedish iron ore as the real reason for the Nazi drive to the north. The propaganda censor objected to this statement, but with the aid of the foreign office censor Dr. Jordan was able to keep the statement in his broadcast. Occasionally the heart is censored out of a story, he said, in which case the radio correspondent simply cancels his broadcast. MAX JORDAN, NBC Central European representative, posed on the dock rail at LaGuardia Airport May 21, just before boarding a Clipper to return to his duties abroad. Jordan, who scored brilliantly in his coverage of the Munich-Austrian crises and the present war, had been in New York and Washington for 10 days conferring with NBC officials. but this is a rare occurence. As long as he respects the taboos regarding future troop movements and weather, and as long as he remains a neutral reporter and does not become a critic of the authorities of the country from which he is broadcasting, the American radio correspondent will generally find himself given the fullest cooperation in getting his messages on the air. If he wants to do a three-minute or five-minute report as part of a European roundup to be heard in America in the late evening, a dozen censors, technicians and other broadcasting officials and employes will be kept on duty until three or four in the morning to make that possible, Dr. Jordan reported, and they will do it without complaint and as a matter of course. Foreign correspondents in Germany are allowed to listen to shortwave programs from America and other European countries, he said, although that act would bring down heavy punishment on a German citizen. Moscow, he stated, presents no problem for the foreign broadcaster as the Soviet will not allow any foreigner to broadcast from there, so no one tries. or from Washington or New York. Col. Charles W. Kerwood, who flew with the Lafayette Escadrille in France during the last war and who has served on the U. S. Aeronautical Committee for Aircraft Safety, has joined Mutual's . war coverage staff as regular aviation news analyst. With Maj. Leonard H. Nason and Paul Schubert, Army and Navy analysts. Col. Kerwood is heard frequently on MBS in programs summarizing the progress of the war on land, sea and air. MBS has also added a third daily period of AP news bulletins, which are now broadcast at 11 a.m. and 6 and 10:15 p.m. H. V. Kaltenborn, NBC's news analyst, has added an afternoon spot, 1:30-1:45, to his regular schedule, bringing his total to 11 broadcasts a week on NBC-Red, including his sustaining broadcasts and those sponsored by the Pure Oil Co. This new schedule, the most strenuous he has ever attempted, has resulted in the cancellation of Kaltenborn's out-of-town lecture engagements "for the duration". On NBC-Blue, John Gunther now gives his expert interpretation of the news each evening at 10. John B. Kennedy has been added to NBC's staff of commentators. Augmenting its European pickups at 8 a.m. and 7:15 p.m., NBC has started a regular midnight broadcast featuring William Hillman, chief of Collier's foreign bureau, from London, who is occasionally joined by correspondents in other European capitals. Following the trans -Atlantic reports, Maj. Gen. Stephen Fuqua, U. S. A. retired, reviews the day's military maneuvers for NBC listeners. Gen. Fuqua was military observer for the United States during the war in Spain and was formerly chief of infantry. William Shirer, head of the CBS Berlin staff, provided one of the major highlights of radio's war coverage with his broadcasts from Cologne and Aachen during three days at the front with the German Army. The night of May 21, Shirer and press association correspondents were nearly bombed, when British planes attempting to destroy a nearby military objective dropped bombs as close as 400 yards to the hotel in Aachen at which the coi'respondents were staying. Shirer saw first-line fighting at the River Scheldt in Flanders, but his strongest impression was the lack of Allied bombing of Germanheld territory. "During my whole three days at the front," he said on May 23, "I did not see an Allied plane during the daytime." Though Allied planes did come over at night, he added, there was no evidence of any widespread damage in the country he passed through. His observations were widely quoted in the American press. Mann Back at Front Arthur Mann, MBS correspondent in France with the British Expeditionary Force, was ordered back to London by the British Government on May 21, apparently with other correspondents, but has since returned to the front. His eyewitness descriptions are recorded at the front and shipped to London, whence they are transmitted to MBS and broadcast in this country each Thursday at 9:15 p.m. Mutual is continuing its rebroadcasts of news in English from the various foreign cities as a regular daily event, broadcasting an average of four or five such pickups a day. An extra problem resulting from the war, reported by CBS, is the care of wives of its foreign staff who want to bring their children to America before they are caught in actual warfare. Negotiations have been going on to get passage on either a boat or a Clipper for Mrs. Shirer and her little girl and for Mrs. Eric Sevareid, whose husband has been covering the French and Belgian fronts for CBS, as well as her twins, born only a few weeks ago. Capture of Boulogne put an end to early plans to have them embark from that city and now Mrs. Sevareid hopes to leave on the Italian liner Rex, when and if it sails, while Mrs. Shirer is attempting to come over on the next Clipper. Janet Murrow, wife of Ed Marrow, CBS European chief stationed in London, refuses to leave. Page 26 • June 1, 1940 BROADCASTING • Broadcast Advertising