Evening star., 1942-09-05
u. 5. Stakes Victory
In Propaganda War
On Truth Broadcasts
Policy Of Separated
News and Editorials
Has Critics, However
BY TRUDI MCCULLOUGH.
Vida World.

war IOT US. 1t S1dl not happen
again" The German corporal was
Hitler.
His Is the theory that propa-
ganda is not only the communica-
ton of carefully culled news and
words designed for generalization
but that it is military weapon.
He used it as camoufage tao
tic when he focused attention on
the Balkans before he marched into
the Low Countries.
He used 1t as blockade maneu-
YER when-with America still neu-
trail and Britain suing for her ia
vorable opinion-he helped keep
England out of the LoWlands until
he could get there, by trumpeting
England's intentions to invade.
u. S. in World War.
He used it as a fright device in
the case of secret weapons . .
he used it effectively to promote
bloodless capitulations,
That is one kind of propaganda.
Hitler's kind. And how rem, nera-
tive it has been for him to d ite all
the world knows.
German communiques issue from
one headquarters and, before they
are issued at all, military and propa-
ganda men together are able to
analyze, fictionaliZe or create them
The propaganda men don't have to
make the best of what the various
military headquarters say after the
conmunique gets into print.
Against this super smooth mech
anism United States short-wave
radio has gone to war.
It's methods and tactics are very
different. And United States short
wave men have reasons for the
tactics they employ.
So long as United States forces
are not on the continent, they are
more concerned with propaganda as
a psychological weapon rather than
as military weapon.
Their work is directed at the
people of enemy lands and the oc-
cupied countries. Their aim is to
bring despair to the first, hope to
the latter.
Keep News Truthful.
Almost uniform procedure over
the IA great short-wave transmit
ters directed at enemy dominated
people is program combining Is
minutes of news and Is minutes of
editorials and news features.
Uniform belief among the big
stations and the Government agency
is that news and editorials must be
kept separate. Truth in the news,
they believe, is the biggest drawing
card for listeners abroad, because
Europeans are sick and tired of
propaganda"
Says Elmer Davis, director of the
Office of War Information:
"Democracies have good story
to tell and they ought to tell it.
owl is telling it and will tell it in
increasing volume as our foreign
service expands. The news We
broadcast overseas is supplemented
in Allied and neutral countries by
general background information dis
tributed by our outposts in London,
Berne, Stockholm, Cairo, Ankara,
New Delhi, Chungking, etc. 9...tz
I'VE stick to the truth, for we be-
lieve the truth is on our side. To
enemy countries, we broadcast news
of the war. American production,
etc.-again the truth, with only such
omissions as actual military security
may demand: but that news, in di-
rection and emphasis, is adjusted to
the particular interests of enemy
peoples so as to produce the psy-
Geological effect most conducive to
our victory"
Sample Of Editorial
Propaganda only really enters the
programs when the broadcaster gets
to his Is minutes of editorial. Even
then 1t is "once over lightly form
of propaganda as the Germans
know 1t.
Sample: America can and will
beat Germany and her Axis part
ners in this war, and this victory
will not be achieved by Nazi meth
DDS of big talk. lying and cruelty,
but by a clean fought, honest, mat
ter-of-fact combat. This was the
way which in the first World War
sufieed to bring Germany down;
this, too, will be the way which will
suffice in this war"
Treatment in broadcasts directed
at Germany is to separate Germans
from Nazis. Attacks are directed at
officialdom and overlords, and the
people are identified as the long
suffering.
'Our two main aims" says Ernest
Moth Of NBC, "are to encourage a
split between the Nazi party and the
German people, and to convince the
German people that in the case of
defeat there is not going to be a
super-Versailles.
Treatment in dealing with Italy
Is to denounce the Nazis, who now
dominate a country that is right
fully Italian.
Treatment for France is to send
as much encouraging news as pos
StSAS--VS eo4h, 4O1 VI Vic
second front, not in threatening
terms as it would be directed at Ger
many, but in terms of hope for
liberation of the French.
Some forward looking short =
wave experts already are advanc-
ing theories for a more total form
of radio warfare.
Would Combine Two.
One of the most articulate is
-schooled Charles j. Rolo
His basic argument, at variance
with present practice, is to combine
propaganda and news.
THE Germans and Italians are
sick to death, not of propaganda
but Of their own Official propa-
ganda," he says. They are con-
scious of being shut off from the
rest of the world by a rigid censor
ship and want to hear what the
other fellow has to say. Oul
broadcasts have acquired a reputa-
ton for greater truthfulness thar
those OF the Axis stations. But we
fatter ourselves If we imagine that
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