Fiji No Longer Hears The Abc
p. 22 · Read in the full issue
The Reason Why
9 O'clock News
The sudden discontinuance by the Fiji Broadcasting Commission, in July, of the 7 p.m. Australian news service (hitherto broadcast regularly at 9 p.m. Fiji time), caused dismay in Fiji.
RESIDENTS have come to regard this rebroadcast news bulletin as their main radio news service. As produced by the ABC it represented a nice balance of overseas and Australian news.
Rumours in Fiji gave many reasons for the cessation of what was regarded as a public amenity, including objection by the local newspaper and/or a Press Agency representative. Inquiries in Suva and Sydney, however, indicate that this development had been under consideration for a long time.
The ABC is agreeable that Fiji should reproduce, without charge, any news material in the service that has been gathered by the ABC’s own staff, but the ABC includes in its 7 p.m. broadcast various services supplied by other organisations at a fee and there are certain copyrights inherent in fhpcp sspfvi PPS Consequently if such services are broadcast by the FBC, the FBC makes itself liable to a claim? for fees.
Present indications are that it is unlikely that the easy going arrangement under which the FBC transmitted the ABC 7 p.m. news service without charge will be resumed.
But Fiji still hears one ABC news broadcast a day one that
originates in Australia at 6.30 a.m. over Radio Australia and is re broadcast in Fiji during the day.
This bulletin contains news gathered only by ABC reporters and correspondents.
Mr. A. N. Finlay, assistant general manager of the ABC, said in Sydney late July that the ABC was “very happy” for Fiji to have this service.
“But we can’t give the FBC permission to use bulletins con taining press agency news,” he said.
“If they can make arrangements with agencies to use the general news in our bulletins we would be quite happy to let them do so.
But we have to protect our contracts.”
Radio-NZ Gives Poor Service
THE New Zealand Broadcasting Service like its Australian counterpart, operates a special short-wave broadcasting service intended primarly for the entertain ment and information of people in New Zealand’s Island Territories.
The New Zealand service is run on a limited budget and the trans mitters are under-powered, with reception ranging from very poor in the early mornings, to often quite good—but never as good as the much more powerful Radio
Australia transmitters which co the world.
Perhaps this situation cannot 3 improved at the present time, there is at least one feature; Radio-NZ that could and sho be improved, and this is the nr service for the Islands.
The ordinary daily broadcasts New Zealand news—one at nr and two in the evening, are aim always identical, and are m repetitions of a news bulletin wh has already been transmitted J morse from Wellington and R lished in public news-sheets ini the islands earlier in the day.
Once each week there ise special “Newsletter for the Islanr This session consists substanti of merely broadcasting back to Cook Islanders items of C Islands news which appeared! their own news-sheet weeks or e months previously often witH any sub-editing, so that they read as is and appear as id which happened “yesterday.”
This material would make interesting broadcast directed!
Islanders resident in New ZealJ As such it would have to ( broadcast by a New Zea!. medium-wave station. But ii absurd to broadcast this mate to listeners in the islands.
On the other hand news Islanders resident in NZ, sucH that contained in despatches f the Rev. Mr. Challis, are of interest. There should be mon this: as well as regular informs, despatches from Island Territc Department, talks on tropical c;; Island industries, native co-or tives; up-to-the-minute ship news, prompt reports on pc received in New Zealand tomato shipments; overseas ms quotations on copra, etc.