October 22, 2011

News and Entertainment in the Digital Age: A Vast Wasteland Revisited

Read former FCC Chairman Newton N. Minow's speech, "Television and the Public Interest," that was delivered to the National Association of Broadcasters on May 9, 1961, in Washington. An excerpt from the speech:
"When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better.

But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your own television set when your station goes on the air and stay there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper, without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland."