NBC Transmitter (Jan-Dec 1939)

AUGUST, 1939 3 KNOW YOUR COMPANY No. 17 — Continuity Acceptance Department The Continuity Acceptance Department of NBC will soon celebrate its fifth birthday. The department, created for the purpose of reviewing all material submitted for broadcast on sponsored programs from the standpoints of fairness to radio listeners, NBC program policies, ethical business practice, wholesomeness and good taste, became active on October 1, 1934. Back of this movement toward raising the standards for broadcast material lay the belief that characterbuilding in a business enterprise is as necessary as it is in an individual; that in raising the standards of its program requirements, the National Broadcasting Company would thereby fit itself more adequately to fulfill its responsibility to serve the public interest, and, at the same time, build for itself a reputation as an advertising medium that would attract the most desirable class of advertiser. NBC first published and released program policies in January, 1934. These policies, together with such sections of the Federal Communications Act of 1934 as are applicable to the acceptance of broadcast copy, the procedure of the Federal Trade Commission, and the rulings of the Food and Drug Division of the Department of Agriculture were the foundation on which the structure of the Continuity Acceptance Department was formed. Continuity Acceptance has its headquarters in New York. In Chicago and Hollywood, similar departments are set up and in each NBC operated station, there is a person assigned to the review of copy submitted for use on local sponsored programs. It is most important that the handling of policy enforcements be coordinated so that the same interpretation of company standards is given at all points from which NBC sponsored programs originate. While every script must be read from the general viewpoints of good taste and business ethics, some other factors that tnav b'a encountered and which must be eliminated or cleared are: slander; right of privacy; impersonations; references to real persons, living or dead; controversial issues; misrepresentation. Continuity Acceptance, working with the Sales Department, investigates the properties and acceptability of all products coming within the food and Janet MacRorie, NBC Continuity Acceptance Editor drug categories, for which time may be sold to advertisers. The Department also clears all offers made by advertisers for sales promotion purposes. When an offer is made, it must be ascertained whether the merchandise offered lives up to the terms used in describing it over the air and that the article offered can not, within the range of its proper use, injure life or property. The scope of the Department’s activities may be aptly illustrated by a brief summary of the work handled during the month of June: Network and Local Scripts cleared, 1636; Spot Announcements, 417; Scripts for Electrical Transcription, 192; Investigation of Products, 2; Investigation for Contest or Offer Acceptability, 10. A major activity of the Department is the negotiation with clients and their representatives for changes found to be necessary in scripts submitted for broadcast. The change of a word or two sometimes is all that is necessary, while, in other cases, deletion of entire script routines or advertising copy theme is indicated. Continuity Acceptance keeps in particularly close touch with the Program and Legal Departments, since many of the problems that come up must be viewed from the standpoints of “good radio” and legal significance. In reviewing scripts designed for network broadcast, staff members are trained to think of the country as a whole and to decide whether the copy submitted will have general interest and acceptance. The most recent expression of Company policies is found in “Broadcasting in the Public Interest,” copies of which were distributed early in June of this year. Random paragraphs from this book may serve to describe the general principles on which the Continuity Acceptance Department operates, and for the enforcement of which the Department is responsible. “The effect of radio broadcasting on the thinking of men and women is ever widening. The thoughts and reasoning of their children are forming under the influence of the voices and music that pour from the loudspeaker into their homes. Thus radio’s social responsibility increases in proportion to the influence it exerts. This responsibility does not fall on the broadcaster alone; it is shared by those who employ the facilities of the network for any purpose. It is to the interest of all to broadcast programs so high in quality and integrity as to merit an ever-increasing public approval and confidence. “The broadcast message enters the home by human voice or musical expression— a disembodied element. The voice or music paints the picture; the listener’s imagination frames it. It has been the experience of NBC that any abuse of sincerity, any misrepresentation which may creep into a radio program, deliberately or not. tends to weaken confidence in the integrity of other programs, and thereby lessens the value of radio for all who use it.” Following are policies applicable to all programs: 1. The use of the Deitv’s name, or reference to His powers and attributes, is permissible only when used reverently. Only when baptism, marriage, burial, or other sacraments and ceremonials are absolutelv essential to the plot may they be used. One of the most cherished heritages of every American is his inalienable right to worship God in his own way. Statements and suggestions that are offensive to religious views are a challenge to that heritage and have no place in broadcast programs. Ministers of religion should not be presented as un( Continued on page 13)