In an effort to foster better relations with Latin American countries, the Columbia Broadcasting System will extend its network to 18 of the 20 Latin American republics on or about Sept. 1, 1941, it was announced today by CBS President William S. Paley, returning from a seven-week air tour of Latin America.
At a press conference this afternoon Paley said that the new project, whereby CBS would transmit programs to these countries for re-broadcast by long-wave and would accept programs from these countries, would give the United States the strongest voice of any foreign country in Latin America.
At present, he said, high-powered German short-wave stations are heard clearly in South America. In addition, he said, some stations were known to be “tied up with German interests.” From time to time, Germany buys time on South American stations for rebroadcast of German programs.
Much of the output of Axis short-wave stations, Paley declared, “is straight propaganda selling the ideologies of certain countries and seeking to discredit the way of life of other nations.”
The new network will not be used for political propaganda of the type emanating from many European transmitters, he said. “We were generally told that such propaganda as some European stations send in a steady stream toward South America is defeating its own ends by its very vehemence.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
