§ Sir R. Gowerasked the Minister of Information whether recent comparisons of the news given out by the British Broadcasting Corporation and the news in English given out on foreign stations show that the British Broadcasting Corporation news is more up to date or otherwise; and whether, before imposing any restrictions on the British Broadcasting Corporation, he will have regard to the importance of the competitive element in this matter and to the desirability of obtaining as large an audience as possible throughout the world for the news put out by British broadcasts as opposed to foreign broadcasts?
Mr. CooperI know of no recent instances of foreign stations broadcasting important items of news before they could be heard from British stations. The practice of my Department is to release news at the earliest moment consistent 821W with national security. I have constantly in mind the importance of maintaining the prestige of the B.B.C.'s world service of news.