Cirrus@Austlit

'Radio Australia, Australia’s equivalent of the BBC’s External Services, may not sound a promising subject for a book, but Errol Hodge, a former editor of Radio Australia turned don, has written an instructive history of this obscure operation, now fifty-five-years old. At the heart of the story is an unending dilemma. Broadcasts to foreign countries conducted strictly under the thumb of the Minister and Department of External Affairs may well be distrusted by listeners. The alternative, which is to allow the journalists and broadcasters a decent measure of independence, inevitably means that sometimes the station will broadcast items that ministers and civil servants believe to be damaging to the conduct of the nation’s foreign policy. Which method best serves the national interest?'  (Introduction)