Newton Minow reflects on the 60th anniversary of calling TV a "vast wasteland"

[TMC]

https://www.latimes.com/business/sto...vast-wasteland
On May 9, 1961, Minow, then-President John F. Kennedy's FCC chairman, delivered his famous speech before the National Association of Broadcasters. "When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better," he said. "But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in front of your 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. You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And endlessly, commercials — many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you’ll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it." Now age 95, Minow tells the Los Angeles Times: "When I was at the FCC, we thought the government’s role should be to increase choice for the viewer. Looking back at it, I’m not so sure that was such a great idea. Because of the proliferation of voices, you now have a huge number of outlets seeking attention, and many of them think the way to seek that attention is to go to the extremes.” As the Los Angeles Times' Michael Hiltzik notes, in the six decades since Minow's speech, "the landscape has become vaster, its average quality ever diminished. What was then a choice limited to three broadcast TV networks (and the third-ranked, ABC, then reached only about half the country) now encompasses much more. There are hundreds of channels available via cable as well as numberless sources of entertainment content, information, misinformation and disinformation streamed at users unrelentingly, night and day, via social media." ALSO: Gilligan's Island's S.S. Minow was named after Minow's "vast wasteland" speech.

[RetroGuy2000]

Wow! I had no idea he was even still alive. But he's 95, and justifiably proud of public television.

[Steve Carras]

I didn't think he was alive, either!

[Hazel Anyday]

If S.S. Minnow is really still alive it just goes to prove old age does not necessarily bring with it wisdom. He still sounds like the self-professed know-it-all socialist expert he sounded like 60 years ago.

Just like all extreme libs today he loves his fellow lib liars, PBS and I'm sure he sees no bias at all on all the nbc's and cnn's not to mention EVERY single other supposed "news" network except for OAN. They are all lib commie mouthpieces for the dems now better known as out and out commies and socialists. Newton, of course, is real comfortable there, "nothing to see here", right Newt? Just ask him.
Educational TV (another classic example of libs giving a title to one of their brainchilds which is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what it really is) has been anti-American from it's inception with nothing but one anti-American so-called documentary after another right up until the present day. Today there are a few British shows on PBS that are worth watching the rest of it is all a genuine vast wasteland of commie propaganda as is 99% of everything else on TV today except for the rare exceptions of classic TV shows and OAN for real news.
Newt & his socialist buddies can thank themselves for creating the true wasteland of TV today.