50th Anniversary of Wasteland Speech

[salvorhardin]

Monday will mark the 50th anniversary of FCC Chairman Newton Minnow's famous "Television and the Public Interest", aka the "Vast Wasteland", speech to the National Association of Broadcasters. WNYC's On The Media did a story reporting on the reaction to Minnow's speech at the time. The audio is online now, transcript will be available Monday.

Fifty years ago, speaking to the National Association of Broadcasters, FCC Chairman Newton Minnow called television a "vast wasteland." It was one of the most celebrated speeches ever delivered. WNYC’s Sarah Fishko looks back at the seminal address.

Link: http://onthemedia.org/transcripts/2011/05/06/07

You can read or listen to Minnow's complete speech here: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/newtonminow.htm

balance. I believe that the public interest is made up of many interests. There are many people in this great country and you must serve all of us. You will get no argument from me if you say that, given a choice between a western and a symphony, more people will watch the western. I like westerns too, but a steady diet for the whole country is obviously not in the public interest. We all know that people would more often prefer to be entertained than stimulated or informed. But your obligations are not satisfied if you look only to popularity as a test of what to broadcast. You are not only in show business; you are free to communicate ideas as well as relaxation.

...

You must provide a wider range of choices, more diversity, more alternatives. It is not enough to cater to the nation's whims; you must also serve the nation's needs. And I would add this: that if some of you persist in a relentless search for the highest rating and the lowest common denominator, you may very well lose your audience.

[robcon]

1. Minnow was wrong then; his speech seems ludicrous today.

TV was less than 15 years old then.

The choices have enlarged enormously.

[Rabblevox]

2. You forgot the sarcasm tag, right? He was dead on target 50 years ago, and it's more timely than...

ever. Saying that "choices have enlarged enormously" is a bit like saying that if my town loses three good local restaurants, but gets 10 fast-food outlets, that I now have more dining choices. It may be literally true, but misses the point completely.

Never has so much of our media been controlled by so few. Never has media's "lowest common denominator" been lower. I weep for what used to be, at leasty at t imes, an honorable profession.

[elleng]

3. ...

:thumbsup:

[salvorhardin]

4. I agree that choice and quality are much greater now IF...

Choice and quality are greater now IF you can afford to pay for expensive premium cable and satellite TV packages.

But Minnow was addressing the National Association of Broadcasters -- the people who were given the privilege of utilizing the public airwaves where we have an expectation of public service. Listen to the OTM piece I linked to. In 1961, things were much worse in terms of gratuitous violence, rigged game shows, and incessant advertising than they are now. TV really was a vast wasteland.

Sure, there were one or two standouts such as Edward R. Murrow, but where are the Edward R. Murrows on broadcast TV today? Where is the public service programming? Even PBS, which was formed to serve the public interest, has become dumbed down. Just witness the number of shows parading out frauds like Deepak Chopra, or the decline in intellectual quality of shows like Nova.

I'd say Minnow's call for broadcast television that educates and informs has never been more urgent. They are our airwaves, after all -- at least for a little while longer.