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the press. How are the Germans taking It?
For 12 years Goebbels and Hitler fed
poisonous propagainda to the German
mind through one of the most effective
mediums of information transmission
the radio. Through the radio, the Nazis
were able to reach nearly all homes
in Germany, down to the most isolated
communities of the farm country. To
ascertain that Germans would get this
information, the Nazis made available a
low powered radio, put on sale at a
cost well within the reach iof the German
pocketbook.
MWhen the Americans took over the
radio service, it was of course cleansed
of propaganda, and is now paralleling the
principle of free press with that of free
air for Germany. But does merely democ-
ratizing radio mean that the German
will accept the truth ias truth? Does the
German believe what he hears on the
radio? What does he prefer to hear?
These and many other questions were
answered by the results of a recent
Military Government survey.
BELIEVE OUR NEWS UNBIASED
This survey reveals German radio
listening habits and general reactions to
the type and quality of programs
*on the Sueddeutscher Rundfunk (South
German Network), which covers the Ame-
rican zone through Raditos Frankfurt,
Stuttgart and Munich. The survey is
the first comprehensive study of its kind
to be undertaken in Germany and was
made by the Information Control Sur-
veys Unit, which conducts scientific public
opinion polls using techniques similar to
those employed by the Gallup poll.
These studies are undertaken regularly
in order to evaluate German opinion as
it irelates to the Information Control Pro-
gram in Germany.
The majority of German radio listeners
in the American zone believe that news
presented to them over the American-
operated network is reliable and free of
propaganda. For example, only 4 percent
of those who did not listen regularly
and 13 percent of regular listeners
thought propaganda was broadcast.
However, a majority of those inter-
viewed stated a preference for "inter-
pretive" news. When people were asked
whether they preferred the news to be
simply read or to be read with a per-
sonal note by -a name speaker, 15 percent
answered that they preferred the news
to he read without comment. Among
the regular listeners, a majority (57 per-
cent) preferred name newcasters.
MUSIC PREFERRED
As to program preferences in general,
musical programs were preferred to other
types by a solid majority (65 percent)
of all those interviewed. News programs
were preferred by one-fourth of the
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