Biased News

The charge has been made seriously in quarters which cannot be ignored that a great many radio stations throughout the country are putting biased news broadcasts on the air. I do not believe it is true, but I am unable for lack of information to dispute the statement.

With that explanation last June, shortly before his retirement from the Presidency of the National Association of Broadcasters, Mark Ethridge asked broadcasting stations to submit all scripts of news broadcasts for the week of June 20, prepared the N. A. B. to dispute the statement. Columbia School of Journalism's Assistant to the Dean Herbert Brucker was delegated to draw up a report on these solicited scripts and on transcriptions taken from the air. Although the N. A. B. has been guardedly quiet about the survey's progress, last week Motion Picture Daily's Jack Banner upset the applecart, published general conclusions, several details he said he drew from the report.

Of the 300 political commentators covered by the survey, he said, 13% were found prejudiced. Boston stations were rated as the most biased. Specific examples of biased broadcasting, supposed to be quoted from the N. A. B. survey: 1) Commentator Boake Carter: anti-Russian treatment of the recent Russo-Japanese border battle. 2) Station KGB (San Diego): deleting anti-New Deal news. 3) Station WGAR (Cleveland): anti-New Dealism. 4) Station WGN (Chicago): distorting the facts of FORTUNE'S survey of Presidential popularity when the station's newscaster said the survey indicated waning popularity for President Roosevelt.

At week's end, N. A. B. President Neville Miller branded the report "orphan, unauthorized and misleading." With a fine disregard of Predecessor Ethridge's words, President Miller declared: "All shades of public opinion have freely attested to the fairness of American radio in its handling of news, political candidates, and controversial issues."

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