HC Deb 25 January 1954 vol 522 cc1449-50
23 and 24. Mr. Warbey

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) whether he will advise the British Broadcasting Corporation to discontinue the practice of pronouncing Czechoslovakia as two separate words in its Slovak broadcasts

(2) how far it is the policy of Her Majesty's Government to encourage Slovak separatism through the medium of the British Broadcasting Corporation's broadcasts to Czechoslovakia.

Mr. Dodds-Parker

The B.B.C. do not pronounce Czechoslovakia as two separate words in their Slovak broadcasts, nor is it the policy of Her Majesty's Government to encourage Slovak separatism either through broadcasts in Slovak by the B.B.C. or by any other means.

Mr. Warbey

While thanking the hon. Gentleman for the assurance given in the latter part of his reply, may I ask whether he will accept that my information is different from his; that there is in the Slovak broadcasts an emphasis on the second part of the word; that the word "Slovak" is frequently used as if the broadcasters were speaking of a separate country and that these are indications of some support of Slovak separatism in the B.B.C? Will he make it quite clear that Her Majesty's Government do not approve?

Mr. Dodds-Parker

It is extraordinarily difficult, as the hon. Gentleman will know, to ensure that anyone pronounces the word "Czechoslovakia" without putting any particular accent on one syllable or other.