ECREA16-Abstract

110

Thursday, November 10

1 6 : 3 0 – 1 8 : 0 0

PP 225

Private Radio and the Promotion of Colonialism: The Case of Rádio Clube de Moçambique in the Portuguese Empire

N. Ribeiro

Catholic University of Portugal, School of Human Sciences, Lisboa, Portugal

Portugal established the first and the longest lasting colonial Empire in the world. Even though the colonial mission of the Portuguese became a pillar

of the dictatorship that ruled the country starting in 1933, Salazar never invested significantly in radio transmissions to the Empire which opened the way

for private radio stations to flourish in the territories under Portuguese administration. Among these, Radio Clube of Mozambique (RCM) became the most

important broadcaster, achieving a significant success in the colony and in neighbouring countries, namely South Africa, North and South Rhodesia, Nyasa‑

land and Madagascar. Contrary to all other broadcasters that emerged in the Portuguese Empire, RCM, besides having a professional management, adopted

a commercial strategy inspired on the American model of broadcasting. This allowed it to acquire a good reputation namely for its music selection that

appealed to a larger number of listeners when compared to the public service broadcasters that reached or were established in Sub-Saharan Africa. Against

this background, this paper presents a contextual history of RCM from its emergence to the outbreak of the colonial war in Mozambique, discussing how

the Portuguese dictatorship led by Salazar controlled and used the station to promote the regime’s colonial policy between the 1930s and 1964. Hence,

the paper demonstrates how a private station with clear commercial goals was used as a propaganda weapon by an authoritarian regime. Furthermore,

it illustrates how the revenue from the station’s broadcasts in English and Afrikaans allowed the management to invest in its Portuguese service that had

a clear ideological agenda. The paper, which is grounded on archival research conducted in different archives in Lisbon, will also give particular attention

to transmissions in local African languages that started in the mid-1950s operated by RCM. These broadcasts were directly sponsored by the Lisbon dicta‑

torship after Portugal became a member of the United Nations and therefore was pressured to discuss the independence of its colonial territories: an issue

that Salazar always refused to consider.

PP 226

The Plot Thickens: Examining Early Visual Tropes in the World Health Organisation’s Global Malaria Eradication Campaign

N. Hirve

Mid Sweden University, Department of Media and Communication Science, Sundsvall, Sweden

Large-scale humanitarian organisations such as the Red Cross and the League of Nations recognised the importance of images to inform the public of their

programmes and policies (Rodogno & David 2015). They made conscious use of visual narratives and metaphor alongside their texts, invoking numerous

tropes in order to evoke empathy in the audience. When the World Health Organisation (WHO) was founded in 1948, such tactics were already well estab‑

lished. Its use of military narratives in the fight against disease is a common theme even in today’s journalistic media, with familiar visual tropes of doctors

as soldiers, epidemics as war. However, by the time theWHO’s Global Malaria Eradication Programme (GMEP) was launched in 1955, postWWII, the decolo‑

nisation of Asia and Africa and the emergence of postwar humanitarian photography created its own narratives in addition to the ones consciously adopted

by the institution. Humanitarian photography is of relevance today, as more and more aid organisations and NGOs rely on photography to reach a broad

audience in order to raise awareness and funds for their causes. The narratives and visual language of these journalistic images is constantly under scrutiny.

There is a constant challenge for aid organisations to draw attention to health issues in Third World countries without the undercurrent of imperialism. By

studying history of visual politics in major institutions, we gain insight into the efficacy of such communications. This archival study, unique in that it exam‑

ines both the contact sheets as well as published spreads from photographers contracted by the WHO in the late 1950s, suggests that the images must be

considered within the context of the start of both humanism and colonialism. New technology and the discovery of the chemical DDT duringWWII revolu‑

tionised the way the malaria was fought. At the same time, according to the directives found in theWHO archives, and the analyses of scholars like Rodogno

& David, the photo editors strongly recommended that the technology be given a human face. In the early years, photographers were paradoxically asked

to background technological equipment in favour of the doctors and nurses wielding it. The resulting narrative appealed to the emotions of the public,

drawing on tropes of the victim, the saviour, and the enemy. Thus far, a single photojournalist, Edoard Boubat, has been analysed in a bottom-up approach,

within the framework of Lutz & Collin’s theory of gazes. It was observed that the journalism was entrenched in three layers of narrative: military, humanist,

and colonialist, which made themselves apparent in the form of tensions and power dynamics in the photographs and their captions. The selection process,

an important part of the WHO’s journalism, can also be observed as supplementary evidence to other studies concerning the published images of the in‑

stitution.

PP 227

The Story of the Company of Venetian Couriers: At the Dawn of the Emerging Pan-European Information Network

J. Kittler

St. Lawrence University, Performance and Communication Arts & English Departments, Canton, USA

We know the exact date when the legendary Company of Venetian Couriers saw the light of day. It was solemnly founded on October 30, 1490, with great

probability in front of the altar dedicated to St. Catherine, its holy patron, in the Church of St. John the Almsgiver. It had 40 founding members who operated

out of Venice’s commercial heart in the Rialto. It was de facto a medieval guild that elected its own alderman (gastaldo) whose role was to protect the inter‑

ests of the couriers, and it was supervised by the postmaster general (maestro delle poste) who acted on behalf of the state. Most of the Venetian couriers

were mountaineers belonging to large family clans from the mainland territories near Bergamo.They were physically equipped to run the distance between

Rome and Venice in the span of a few days. The most renowned among them were the Tassos - later Taxis/Thurn und Taxis - who soon became practically

synonymous with the Pan-European postal system that developed in the course of the sixteenth century. But do we really know the long history, especially

the pre-history of the Venetian couriers? Most of the documents were lost during the devastating 1505 Rialto fire. The earliest known regulation of couriers

(cursores) in Venice predates the formal establishment of the company by almost two centuries. They were in charge of delivering mostly political and

diplomatic correspondence. As of 1306, they became directly subordinated to the ancient council called Provveditori di Comun that regulated key aspects