HC Deb 25 March 1942 vol 378 cc1981-3
28. Captain Cunningham-Reid

asked the Minister of Information why the post- script which was to have been given by W. J. Brown on the evening of Sunday, 15th March, was cancelled?

27. Mr. Mander

asked the Minister of Information the circumstances in which recently a broadcast by Mr. W. J. Brown was not permitted to be given?

30. Mr. Silverman

asked the Minister of Information in what circumstances an intended broadcast by Mr. W. J. Brown was recently cancelled; whether its text had been approved by the British Broadcasting Corporation; whether, subsequently, he requested Mr. Brown to delete certain passages; and whether the cancellation followed his refusal to do so?

31. Major Lyons

asked the Minister of Information the reasons for the alteration of programme on Sunday, 15th March, whereby Mr. W. J. Brown did not broadcast; whether the script for such was previously approved by him; and by whom and at what hour the cancellation was made?

Mr. Bracken

The B.B.C. invited Mr. Brown to submit them a script for a broadcast suitable for delivery on a Sunday night postscript. No firm engagement for Sunday, 15th March, was made and no announcement of a broadcast by Mr. Brown was issued by the B.B.C. at any time. When the script was submitted it did not prove to be what was wanted, and the B.B.C. invited Mr. Brown to talk it over with them during the following week. There was no cancellation, nor had any script been previously approved by myself. The House will realise that the B.B.C. must be allowed a measure of editorial freedom in dealing with broadcast scripts. Just as the editor of a newspaper reserves the right to propose amendments to the contributions he receives, so also must the B.B.C. have the right to discuss the contents of their scripts before acceptance.

Captain Cunningham-Reid

Will not the Minister concede that in this particular case there has been a muddle, and further, does he not consider that the time is long overdue when the B.B.C. should relinquish being neither fish nor fowl and that the time has come—

Mr. Speaker

rose—

Mr. Silverman

Can the Minister assure the House that that part of the script to which exception was taken was not that which suggested that where men fail the nation, they ought to be replaced?

Mr. Bracken

I really do not know what was in the script, so I cannot reply to the hon. Member.

Mr. Gallacher

When is the Minister going to put Harry Pollitt and the Dean of Canterbury on the B.B.C.?