Cooperative Radio Agreements

There is today a new kind of international agreement which, going beyond general provisions and vague expressions of goodwill, has proved to be of immediate, practical consequence. Cooperative radio agreements or, as they are sometimes called, “agreements for mutual assistance†, provide the legal and organizational framework for international relations among broadcasting services in sixteen European countries. At the same time, some of them constitute a basis for the collaboration and coordination of communist-controlled stations, and thus for spreading and strengthening Soviet propaganda; they effectively supplement military and economic ties of the Cominform group in the fields of information and mass communications. Their provisions reflect a new trend in international law, taking into account technical and cultural factors as well as legal considerations, political and economic interests. Although no less than thirty-two agreements have been concluded during the last five years – some also by broadcasting organizations in western Europe – they are little known outside the countries directly concerned.