A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46

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A Listener Research Report
Confidential

IR/296

“AMERICA”

Joint Enquiry among Civilian Listeners and Listeners in H.M. Forces

1. This report presents the results of a series of questions put both to civilians, through Section A of the panel of Honorary Local Correspondents, and H.M. Forces, through the panel of Forces Correspondents. The main object of enquiry was to find out the prevailing attitude of the public towards the U.S.A., and the extent to which “American Commentary” contributes towards an understanding of American affairs. The report is based on 278 replies, 192 from civilian Local Correspondents and 86 from Forces Correspondents.

American Commentary

2. The Continuous Survey of Listening shows that nowadays about 11% to 15% of the civilian public are usually to be found listening to “American Commentary” on a Saturday night. This represents some four to five million persons. Valuable though this information is, it naturally leads on to another enquiry, namely, what kind of people are these listeners? Are they confined to the intelligent and thoughtful section of the public, or have the Commentaries broken new ground and succeeded in interesting any of that great mass of listeners who normally switch off as soon as a talk is announced?

3. In considering this point, it must be borne in mind that American affairs now seem much less remote to British listeners than they did two years ago. The direct relationship of American opinion to British prospects in the war is becoming generally appreciated. This has made the task of attracting listeners to the “American Commentary” much easier than once it was. On the other hand, “American Commentary” still has two big handicaps: reception is often poor and the American voice and idiom difficult to follow. All things considered, the fact that 80 out of 278 Correspondents were able to report that, in their view, “American Commentary” did interest a wider public than that which would normally listen to a series of talks is impressive. And it is worth noting that Forces Correspondents reported this wider interest even more frequently than did civilian Local Correspondents.

4. This line of enquiry was carried further. Correspondents were asked if they thought it would be true to say that over recent years the regular “American Commentary” has improved the average man's understanding of American affairs. This proved a difficult question for Correspondents to answer, but there was general agreement with the view that the regular broadcasts of “American Commentary” had undoubtedly increased the understanding of American affairs of all who made a practice of listening to them. Furthermore, it was pointed out that the effect of “American Commentary” is not confined to listeners. The more informed individuals act as a leaven in the lump. From these facts, it would seem a safe deduction that “American Commentary” has had a real effect in raising the average standard of understanding of American affairs in this country, though, of course, the precise extent of this effect would be exceedingly difficult to measure.

5. Large though “American Commentary” audience is by any comparison with other talks, it is none the less worthwhile to find out if it could not be larger. Does it, for instance, normally assume too much in the way of background knowledge and consequently frighten off potential listeners? This point was, therefore, put to Correspondents. Although a substantial number thought that this was so, their answers were not very convincing. It was as though the reply to the question - “Do you think ‘American Commentary’ assumes too much in the way of background knowledge?” - was “Well, yes, perhaps that's so”, rather than “Yes, undoubtedly that's the trouble”. Much more impressive and more numerous were the replies which implied that it was not “American Commentary” which was to be blamed for any lack of listening, but people's plain unwillingness to make the effort to listen. There were, however, some suggestions of ways in which more people might be attracted to the Commentaries, such as the following:

More publicity for the series - More personal publicity about the commentators, whose names often mean nothing to the average British listener - The use of intelligent film stars as commentators, even if, as one Correspondent put it, “you have to write the script for them” - A change of title to something like “Weekly News Letter from the U.S.A.” - The prefacing of the Commentary with an index read by the announcer, which would not only say what was to be dealt with but give a few explanatory words about it - The prefacing of the Commentary with a ceremonial playing of “Hail Columbia”.

One group of suggestions, which could hardly be reconciled with the present function of the Commentary, is, nevertheless, worth noting because it was, in fact, on suggestions made frequently in varying forms. It was most often in the form of a request that the voice of the American “man-in-the-street”, telling of his ordinary life and his job, should be heard. Sometimes the suggestion took the form of a request for fewer commentaries about politics and more about American social life and customs, for more features about America and American history, for the use of the “In Town Tonight” and “The World Goes By” technique, for discussions between an ordinary American and an ordinary Englishman on their daily lives, for O.Bs. of American events. Behind all these requests, which were made very frequently, can be detected a genuine realisation on the part of ordinary people that, despite all the output of Hollywood, they know very little about the American as a human being, and they want to know more. As a Sergeant in the R.A.F. put it:

“There is a tendency in this country to still regard the States as a sort of backwoods country with Red Indians and Cowboys, and so forth - or alternatively as a land of millionaires, glamour girls, and precocious child prodigies. The whole focal point of any series on the U.S.A. should be an effort to give the British people a real idea of the actual contemporary American life - until this is accomplished the ‘American Commentary’ series will remain limited in appeal.”

“The U.S.A.” Series of Talks

6. “American Commentary” is not, of course, the only series broadcast on America. Between 13th January and 31st March there was a series of eleven talks given by different speakers on the U.S.A. The average civilian audience for these talks was some 8%. Correspondents were asked if they thought these talks assumed too much in the way of background knowledge of American life and institutions to interest (a) the average listener, and (b) the habitual listener to talks.

7. So far as the habitual listener to talks is concerned, the answer was an emphatic negative. If it was for this type of listener that these talks were intended, there is no more to be said on this point.

8. If, on the other hand, it was hoped that these talks would reach a wider public, then the fact that 108 Correspondents felt the talks did assume too much background knowledge for the average listener as against 82 who did not think this was so, must be noted.

Present Feelings Towards America

9. Correspondents were asked to try and sum up the dominant feeling about America today in the circles in which they move. A remarkable degree of unanimity emerged. The most common word used in the reports was “friendliness”, but this is almost always coupled with the word “impatience”. There is real appreciation of American support for our cause and a genuine feeling of cordiality, President Roosevelt is extremely popular, but all that does not prevent a great many people from feeling that it is taking a long time for American words, which are many, to be translated into deeds, which so far seem to be few.

10. It is true that it is possible to detect traces of past misunderstandings and mistrust - that all America is out for is to make money - that they are going to come in at the end again and say they won the war for us - that they may let us down after the war - and even that Americans are “not liked”. Although, on the whole, such views are expressed remarkably seldom, it would be wiser to regard them as dormant rather than dying.

11. Further light is thrown on this question by Correspondents' answers to the following:

“Are there at present any special causes of misunderstanding which you think it would be wise for broadcast speakers to try and clear up?”

Many Correspondents feel the greatest source of misunderstanding is the failure of people on this side to realise the vastness and complexity of the United States. It is still common for Englishmen to think of the United States as a country rather than as a continent; to think that because English is spoken America is predominantly Anglo-Saxon; to fail to appreciate the heterogeneous mixture of races which make up the population of the U.S.A.; to be impatient at legislative delays because of a failure to realise not only how remote Europe is to most Americans, but also all that is implied by the fact that America is not a unitary state but a federation.

12. More proximate causes of misunderstanding included the following:

Failure to appreciate the magnitude of the task of changing American economy from a peace time to a war time basis - Fears about the eventual size of the bill which America will present for its aid to Britain - Scepticism about the reality of American material aid, arising from a failure to appreciate the difficulty of making precise disclosures about shipments - Suspicions that labour unrest in the U.S.A. means lack of real sympathy with this country on the part of the American masses - Failure to appreciate that there may be advantages to this country in the United States remaining non-belligerent - Fears (vide German propaganda) that the United States will dominate Great Britain after the war. (This was only mentioned once.)

Conclusions

13. The most important points revealed by this enquiry are:

(1) That the present attitude of the British public towards the U.S.A. is one of friendliness and appreciation, tempered with a not unnatural impatience.

(2) That there is still a great need for impressing upon the public the many factors, such as the continental character of the United States, which make swift action difficult.

(3) That there is real desire on the part of the British public for a better acquaintance with the American “man-in-the-street”, a demand that might well be met in some measure by broadcasting.

(4) That “American Commentary” is an important factor in creating an informed public opinion about the United States, and that its influence is not confined to a small circle of serious minded listeners.

Listener Research Department

8th July, 1941.

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