With the advent of such series as " Other People's
Houses " and " S.O.S.," however, the B.B.C. would at last seem to
waking up to the many possibilities of the reporter's narrative. In " Other People's Houses " Mr. Howard Marshall gives an account of what he has seen during his fortnightly explorations of the slumlands of England ; whilst in " S.O.S." Mr. S. P. B. Mais does the same for the various voluntary schemes on foot for the aid of the unemployed. Both broadcasters are skilled reporters both, that is to say, have an eye for essential facts and an ability to present those facts vividly over the microphone. No written account of Tyneside slum conditions, for instance, could convey half the urgency of the tragedy as it was conveyed to listeners in Mr. Marshall's first talk. (If there was a fault it was that Mr. Marshall spoke too lugubriously : his description was so vivid that it scarcely needed the addition of an almost tearful voice.) These series might well be extended. Mr. Vernon Bartlett, in his Continental broadcasts, is doing much the same sort of thing ; and there are many other ways in which the reporter's method might be advantageously employed.
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