Evening star., 1948-05-28
Voice
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material he was told to write into
the script which members of Con-
gress have called slanderous, libel
GUS, and sabotage. Mr.. Borgia said
the material came 80 per cent from
John Gunther's recent best seller.
Inside U. S. A." He said all the
facts used In the broadcast were
supplied by the NBC research de-
partment.
He added, however that while the
broadcasts may have been silly and
undignifed, they were not insult
ing to the United States.
Lack of Check Explained.
Mr.. Allen told the committee that
the reason the scripts were broad
cast without being checked by the
State Department was the depart
ments belief that Congress wanted
1t to turn the job over to private
broadcasters. as we'll as the fact
that the department lacked suffi-
cient money or personnel to super
wise all broadcasts.
The Assistant Secretary said the
department does check all news and
editorial broadcasts, but not enter
tainment and music broadcasts. He
said the scripts under fire fall into
the category of entertainment al
though he added that was not a
very accurate classification. He
said the idea was to provide de-
scriptive and background material
on the United States.
At one point. Mr.. Allen said, his
reaction" to the scripts was that
thew were very inadequate, to use
a mild expression, in giving pic
ture of the United States. At this,
Chairman ChenoWeth commented:
You don't mean inadequate?
To this Mr.. Allen replied that he
would Withdraw that word"
Directives Only General.
Mr.. Allen said that the State
Department's only control over the
hroadcasts in question was to pro-
vide NBC with general directlves
indicating the general character
and length of such broadcasts.
NBC, he said assumed full respon-
sibility for carrying out the program.
In answer to a question by Rep
resentative Manasco. Democrat. OF
Alabama. on the Hooper rating of
the broadcasts, Mr.. Aliens assistant,
Charles Thayer, said there had been
no mail of any kind from Latin
America
Mr.. Thayer estimated that more
than 20 additional employees, at a
cost of $4,000 year, would be
needed to precheck every script
down to every word. In addition to
the Spanish scripts. those in nine
other Languages are going out with
out a word for check by the State
Department. he added
On this point. Mr.. Allen COM
mented that even with the addl-
tional employees it would not be pos
sible to guarantee 100 per cent
that such incidents would not oc-
cur again. He said:
Il think this was a human error
and l have to say in all frankness
that it could happen again
Program Balance Necessary.
Mr.. ChenoWeth asked Mr. Allen
why the United States does not
stick to the news items and leave
out the frills and fancieS" Mr.
Allen replied that no radio program
can consist only of news, but must
be balanced by background mate
rial music and other entertainment
Mr.. Allen said Mr.. Borgia had
received a total of only $l40 from
the United States for translation
work, but that otherwise he was
paid by NBC over the years from
1912 to l947. He was originally
hired by NBC with the full knowl-
edge" of the Co-ordinator Of Inter-
American Affairs, an agency then
headed by Nelson Rockefeller.
AS the House committee investi-
CATION began, two Senate commit
tees Joined together for their own
investigation, with public hearings
likely next week.
Capitol Still Rocking.
Both Houses of Congress still
rocked to hot and angry words over
the slurs members found in the
scripts beamed to our Latin neigh
bors, supposedly to tell them of the
democratic way of life in this
country.
Such samples as New England
was founded by hypocrisy and Texas
by sin" had Senators and Represent
atives loudly crying sabotage ano
slander, especially when their owr
States were mentioned. Senator
Capehart, Republican, of Indiana
already has read numerous simila