"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 you to sit
down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and
stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and loss sheet or
rating book to distract you -- and keep your eyes glued to that set until
the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.
"You will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience participation
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 will see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few.
And if you think I exaggerate, try it."
-- Newton N. Minow, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, in
a speech titled "Television and the Public Interest," delivered
on May 9, 1961 at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in
Washington, DC
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