JFK DODGES QUESTION ON TV NETWORK PROGRAMMING
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On July 23, 1962, President John F. Kennedy's news conference was transmitted live to Europe via Telstar. During the conference, JFK was asked the following question...
"Mr. President, now that the US image is being transmitted instantaneously overseas by Telstar, do you think the (TV) networks should do something about the vast wasteland?"
Vast wasteland was a term coined by Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton Minow* who gave a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters on May 9, 1961 in which he said...
"When television is good... nothing is better (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."
President Kennedy, not wanting to be critical of the television networks, laughed and said...
"I'm going to leave Mr. Minow to argue the wasteland issue, I think."
*Newton Minow was born in Milwaukee, WI in 1926. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Northwestern University School of Law. NM served in the US Army in WWII & is an attorney in private practice specializing in telecommunications law. NM was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama & received the Peabody Award.
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On July 23, 1962, President John F. Kennedy's news conference was transmitted live to Europe via Telstar. During the conference, JFK was asked the following question...
"Mr. President, now that the US image is being transmitted instantaneously overseas by Telstar, do you think the (TV) networks should do something about the vast wasteland?"
Vast wasteland was a term coined by Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton Minow* who gave a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters on May 9, 1961 in which he said...
"When television is good... nothing is better (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."
President Kennedy, not wanting to be critical of the television networks, laughed and said...
"I'm going to leave Mr. Minow to argue the wasteland issue, I think."
*Newton Minow was born in Milwaukee, WI in 1926. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Northwestern University School of Law. NM served in the US Army in WWII & is an attorney in private practice specializing in telecommunications law. NM was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama & received the Peabody Award.
Newton Minow
FCC Chairman
