Revisiting transnational broadcasting: the bbc's foreign-language services during the Second World War

Presenting a collection of original chapters, this book reassesses the history of the BBC foreign-language services prior to, and during, the Second World War. The communication between the British government and foreign publics by way of mass media constituted a fundamental, if often ignored, aspect of Britain's international relations. From the 1930s onwards, transnational broadcasting - that is, broadcasting across national borders - became a major element in the conduct of Britain's diplomacy, and the BBC was employed by the government to further its diplomatic, strategic, and economic interests in times of rising international tension and conflict.

Chapter Introduction -- part Part I Toleration before tolerance and the endurance of the other: narrations of cultural diversity and the transfer of new perspectives -- chapter 1 Swinging or suspended minds? Cultural and methodological approaches to diversity in the late 17th and early 18th centuries -- chapter 2 Venezia, Finestra d'Oriente: the Venetian stamperia Pittoni and the spreading of information from the East -- chapter 3 Travelling ego and physical engagements: Italian travellers dealing with Ottomans -- part Part II Imperial pragmatism, minorities' weakness and hybridization of thought: Levantinization and the city of Izmir -- chapter 4 A chance for diversity: infidel Izmir and Ottoman tolerance -- chapter 5 From weakness to laissez-faire: competition and acceptance in the 17th-18th century Catholic mission of Izmir -- chapter 6 Hybridizing minds: the Levantinization of the Catholic community of Izmir -- part Part III Playing the role of the besieged fortress, sharing the same inter-Mediterranean codes: Malta and the familiarity of the enemy -- chapter 7 Another kind of border space: fortified Malta in one hundred years of travel narrative (late 17th and late 18th centu…