FILMS, PRESS, AND RADIO ON 

 THE EXPEDITION 



By Hakon Mielche 



The inclusion in the Galathea Expedition of a public relations depart- 

 ment to cater for the Press, films, and the radio was such a new departure 

 in this kind of enterprise that it was bound to evoke a good deal of com- 

 ment, not to say criticism, among scientists. To an older generation the 

 word "publicity" meant the ballyhoo associated with the showmanship 

 of Barnum, which they saw perpetuated in the "sensational discoveries" 

 of the smart pseudo-scientific magazine articles of today. They shuddered 

 at the idea of shipping the big drum with the 12,000-metre wire cable. 



Actually, the idea of including an up-to-date information department 

 was as old as the project of the expedition itself; and the work which it 

 did was only an extension of the century of cooperation between Danish 

 science and the Danish Admiralty, under which the Admiralty had "shown 

 the flag" while carrying the scientists to their stations. Now there was to 

 be more positive action by means of Press conferences about the expedition 



