Radio Wars : Truth, Propaganda and the Struggle for Radio Australia

First published in 1995, this is a fascinating history of Australia's overseas broadcasting service. Caught between the demands of foreign policy and the ideals of journalistic integrity, individuals and governments struggled for editorial control of the service. This book raises important questions about politics and the media.

Radio Australia - the multilingual overseas radio service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation - is little known in Australia, but is heard by millions of listeners in the Asia-Pacific region and others throughout the world. Radio Wars, first published in 1995, was the first book to tell the story of this important but unexplored aspect of Australia's international presence. Launched in 1939 as a propaganda tool, the service was for three decades caught uncomfortably between those who would use it as an instrument of foreign policy and those who would have it an icon of journalistic integrity. But the author argues that by the time of the Dili massacre, propaganda had given way to forthright and factual reporting. Spiced with anecdotal detail, Radio Wars traces a struggle that ranges from personal pettiness to events with significant political ramifications.