Societal_Response_To_Television

Societal Response To Television During the 1960s, television networks and advertisers thought of their viewing audience as just one group of people. They structured their programming around the "normal” values of white, middle-class Americans. Because of this, their programming revolved around the concerns of the nuclear family. Topics such as racism or sexuality were not included in programming and ethnic minorities were excluded, for the most part, from television because they did not fit into the networks' idea of their viewing audience. In addition, profanity and coarse language, which described bodily functions and sexual activity, were also excluded. In 1961 the FCC Chairman, Newton Minow, denounced U.S. television as a “vast wasteland”. He wanted heightened federal regulation of television. Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey disagreed, he declared U.S. television “the greatest single achievement in communication that anybody or any area of the world has ever known…” And in 1963 television surpassed newspapers as an information source. A November “Roper Poll” that year indicated that 36% of Americans found television to be a more reliable source of information, compared to the 24% who favored newspapers. In the 1950’s, only 10% of American homes had a television and by television, violence, society, programming, american, thought, people, much, wanted, viewing, supposed, source, part, over, newspapers, money, make, just, information, industry, idea, greatest, family, excluded, decade, become, because, became, audience, around, americans, 1960’s, york, year, world