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(Reviewed by Peter Bowen, pbowen2@netscape.net
This review first appeared in the November 1998 ed. of the Journal
of the North American Shortwave Association, and is reprinted
with the writer's permission.)
There are not too many works in international broadcasting
which I would describe as idiosyncratic, but this is definitely
one of them.
James Wood is a consulting broadcast engineer, and formerly worked
as a radio engineer at several BBC transmitter sites during the
Second World War. It is from this background that he writes,
and his technical proclivities are obvious in the book.
This work is divided into three parts. Part 1 gives a very
brief overview of the development of radio in general, and then
moves on to outline the history of some international broadcasting
operations. Part 2 is a brief description of international
radio use during the Second World War. And Part 3, which
takes up almost one-half of the book, examines various radio stations,
and technological developments, from the standpoint of their use
as instruments of foreign policy.
Unfortunately, there are numerous factual errors in the book.
For example, Marconi's early station at Glace Bay is described
as being in the Canadian province of Newfoundland (p. 18).
Also, in several places, the FBIS is said to be the abbreviation
for the Foreign Broadcasts Intelligence Service. And the
Voice of Free China is described as a service established to relay
programs of WYFR to the People's Republic of China (p. 220).
Although Wood cites many facts and incidents, nowhere in the entire
book does he use footnotes to establish the source of those items.
It is thus impossible to check his more unusual assertions.
Mr. Wood is quite vague about what international broadcasting
is all about. At the start of the book he bluntly states
that all international broadcasting is propaganda broadcasting,
but he gives no definition of what he means by propaganda.
Later on, however, embedded in the chapter on French international
broadcasting, he elaborates on this by stating that, "The
purpose of propaganda can range from the export of culture, information
and disinformation broadcasting, evangelism, advertising or politics"
(p. 197). Given the broad sweep of his definition of propaganda,
it is understandable that all international broadcasting can be
so described, but it really doesn't help us to understand the
functions of this medium.
What is very clear, however, is the fact that he does not approve
of the history of British international broadcasting, especially
the BBC. In fact, the latter comes in for more negative
comments than any other station. Two examples should serve
to illustrate this. On page 49 he writes, "To many
of those countries targeted by the BBC broadcasts in their own
tongue, it was a first experience of being tainted by Western
culture . . . an invasion that was to have some far-reaching
effects." And later on in the book, on page 130, he
strongly implies that the BBC broadcasts news critical of the
British Government for the sole purpose of fooling its listeners
into believing that it is independent of that government.
These are obviously quite unconventional views.
Another example of an unconventional view is his assertion that
Western broadcasters are just as responsible for the fact of jamming
as are the jamming states themselves, as the former broadcast
programs which could well have incited unrest. They also
waste frequency space when they use barrage broadcasting.
Wood devotes much space (41 pages) to the role of international
broadcasting during World War II. In contrast, the long
period of the Cold War only rates a chapter of 32 pages.
This gross imbalance in coverage is hard to understand.
Although he is of course quite critical of BBC broadcasts during
the war, he is surprisingly easy going, and almost apologetic,
when it comes to Nazi broadcasts. Similarly, there are also
very few, if any, negative comments on U.S. broadcasts during
the war, and very few on Japanese broadcasts during the same time
period. (Wood's chapter on Japanese broadcasting during
the Second World War, by the way, is very interesting and informative.
It is, in my opinion, one of the highlights of the book.)
Another interesting aspect of this book is the wealth of information
that he provides on the development and modern use of HF technology,
especially HF transmitters. There are several chapters on
this topic, and similar information on it scattered throughout
the book, all of which makes for very interesting and informative
reading.
Yet, the biggest problem with this book as a history of international
broadcasting is that it devotes almost no space to programming.
In fact, there is no real outline of actual programming on international
stations, past or present, as opposed to the author's opinions
on that programming, anywhere in the entire book. This is,
in my opinion, the major defect of the book.
In conclusion, History of International Broadcasting is frequently
an interesting book to read. It has lots of good, informative
material. The opinions of its author are unconventional
at times, but are worthwhile and interesting to read nevertheless.
But the incredible lack of any extended treatment of programming,
plus the unconventional and often idiosyncratic views of its author,
mean that this is not to be considered as a standard work on the
topic. In addition, the rather sloppy attention to detail
and the numerous errors of fact greatly mar this work. For
those readers who want a good, solid introduction to the topic,
Donald R. Browne's book, "International Radio Broadcasting,"
would be much more suitable.
(258 pages; London, Peter Peregrinus Ltd., 1992; ISBN 0-86341-28-5;
available from on-line booksellers)