Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-02-05
EFFORT TO CENSOR
RADIO IS FORECAST
Audience and Industry Are
Warned to Guard Against
Restrictions.
BY JAMES Fl. COLLINS.

The station director would have
been Mortified. year ago, at the sug-
gestion that he invite either a promi-
nent fundamentalist or modernist to
express his beliefs in this great re-
ligious controversy of the moment,
speaking from the studio. At that
time letters would probably have
poured in, charging him with par
tisanship. But when WIZ installed a
microphone outside to broadcast
great modernist- fundamentalist sta
tons program instead of blame there
was praise for WIS enterprise in
letting the vast radio audience hear
both sides Of the controversy stated
by authoritative leaders. Radio de.
bates of other controversial Ques-
tion, like prohibition, have also
brought warm commentator from lis
teners.
Station IL Thanked.
Generally, correspondents thank the
station for giving both sides a fair
hearing. and there is a feeling that
debates bring such questions out into
the open, and take from them the
suspicion OF propaganda. And as in
a public hall, so on the air, the skill
full debate has all the interest of
good horse race or prize fight.
II radio censorship comes. what
form VIII II take!
Probably the same form as prohibit
ton, censorship of moving pictures,
tho war on cigarettes and tobacco
the usual anti" tactics. That is, ad-
vocates OF censorship will find it
easier to secure the passage of local
and State laws than a Federal law, and
there are pretty certain to be com
munities where prejudice can be
aroused and pressure brought upon
State legislators or city fathers.
About is per cent of the broadcast
ing stations in the United States are
owned and operated by religious bod
plotting their particular brands of
doctrines. Here, for example, is Will
bur Glenn Voliva, Of the Latter Day
Saints" whose station WCBD is used
for preaching that tho world 10 fiat
and other strange tenets. Should such
stations be restricted in their use of
the ether?
Whether he is a city official, a State
committee, or a Federal bureau, the
peculiar job. Putting the local Thou
shalt not" upon a book or moving
picture is simple In comparison, be-
cause these are tangible things-they
can be held in the hand, read or run
of on the screen, and duly censored
But where are the State lines In radio?
Where would the international line
be if we had Federal censorship, and
Havana, Montreal or Mexico City
wanted to bootleg unlawful material
into the United States? Yes, London,
Vienna, Moscow and Calculator
worldwide broadcasting and recep-
ton will undoubtedly be commonplace
by 1880. 1t will be easy enough for
the censor to sit in the local broad
casting studio and pass upon the pro-
gram-but will there be a radio CEN
sor at every public dinner, political
convention and broadcast event of
every kind?
Radio has been burdened with a
censorship problem that isn't really
its own, because 1t broke in upon a
perplexed world. AS the world gains
In sweetness and light, the problem
may disappear.
Censorship has already been official
OF wavelengths and the supervision
of the Federal Government to prevent
interference. That, however, was CEN
sorship OF the best kind, the Adoption
of rules by those interested IN the in
dustry The next step In censorship
will probably be the elimination of
squealing sets. And 1t can likewise
be brought about through teamwork
in the industry.
But outside censorship will be advo-
Gated as we'll, and il behooves the ra-
do audience and the radio industry to
fight 1t, by safeguarding the con-
stitutional right Of free speech-and
by voluntary inside censorship that
will abolish grounds for the other
side.
(Oopyrirht, 1895, Popular Radio, Incl