In the beginning, a snowy picture with a horizontal bar rolling through it was the best many TV viewers could hope for. For thousands of people living some distance from the large cities even this kind of picture required the installation of a tall antenna next to their houses. Often, they could only get one station – and only then if atmospheric conditions were good. But, despite the difficulties, it was television, and it marked the beginning of a phenomenon that was to have a major impact on news, advertising, film, radio, and the world – not to mention how millions of people would spend their leisure hours. Although television is blamed for everything from crime to tooth decay, television has contributed many positive things to society, as we will see when we explore this medium in the upcoming modules. But, let’s start at the beginning.

For decades before its invention, something called “television’ had been part of science fiction stories. Discovering how to send audio through the airwaves opened the door to the possibility of television, but video was far more complex. It was correctly reasoned that since pictures had millions of times more data than audio, pictures would have to be broken down into bits of information (a data stream) before beginning transmitted. The first application of this concept was wirephotos (using telephone lines to send still photos to newspapers).

This was done by wrapping a photo around a drum, and rotating the drum as a light-sensitive photocell moved over the image picking up brightness differences. The photocell created voltages that were amplified thousands of times and then sent by telephone lines to the subscribing newspapers. At the receiving end, somewhat the reverse took place. A piece of photographic paper spun around on a cylinder within a light-tight enclosure. The intensity of a pinpoint of light focused on the paper varied with the signal being picked up by the originating machine. When the scan was finished, the paper was taken out in a darkroom and processed as a photographic print. Wirephoto machines established the basic concept of scanning pictures a line at a time. But still photos are not motion pictures.

You may recall from an earlier module that experiments with film demonstrated that if a series of pictures were presented at a rate of about 16 or more per second, an illusion of motion could be created. So the problem became one of electronically transmitting a series of still pictures every second. To this the wirephoto approach of transmitting still photos – which originally took about 20 minutes just to transmit one picture – would have to be speeded up millions of times.

Many countries lay claim to inventing television. Without a doubt, engineers in several countries developed various early approaches to transmitting pictures. Early approaches were based on mechanical devices using a kind of moving peephole that focused light reflected from a scene on a photocell. Although these devices worked, they were big, heavy, cumbersome, and of low resolution (producing limited detail). One of the first TV images of this type is the famous Felix the cat image. Even with the obvious limitations, some TV transmitters went on the air using mechanical approaches.

The first all-electronic TV programming was launched by the BBC from Alexandra Palace in London in 1936. Unlike the mechanical systems, this approach was the direct precursor to today’s all-electronic approach to transmitting TV pictures. The BBC system was developed by Marconi, the father of radio. (Interestingly, Marconi’s work, specifically the effect that aircraft had on the transmissions, led to the development of RADAR, which helped the RAF win the Battle of Britain).

In the United States, four people are given credit for major inventions leading to television: Philo T. Farnsworth, Allen B. Dumont, Charles Jenkins and Vladimir K. Zworykin. Philo T. Farnsworth, an American engineer, who is most associated with the invention of TV, rejected the mechanical approach and decided that the only thing fast enough to scan a moving image was a stream of electrons. In 1926, he was trying to construct a TV receiver in the dining room of his Hollywood, California apartment. According to his wife, although constant “pops”, “sizzles” and “bangs” came from the experimental TV equipment, these were not as bad as the terrible acidic smell that filled their apartment. Mrs. Farnsworth appears to be the first person to go on record as complaining, “Television stinks!”

Farnsworth did not have problems only with his wife. Since he had the blinds pulled on his house during the day (to better see the experimental TV sets), the neighbours and police reasoned that he must have been doing something illegal – probably brewing alcohol. They raided his apartment, and, although mystified by what they saw, they at least didn’t throw him in jail. Despite his problems, Farnsworth developed the basic element of a TV camera: a dissector tube that used a moving stream of electrons to “read out” brightness information on a line-by-line basis from the backside of an image focused on a light-sensitive area of a tube. This scanning approach is still used today, although with today’s colour systems the scanning process results in millions of illuminated coloured dots.

Once the problem of how to dissect images and sequentially transmit them through the air by means of radio waves was solved, we had the central elements of the television equation. In case you play trivia, you may want to keep the title, “The Queen’s Messenger” in mind. It was the first television drama to be broadcast in the United States. It was transmitted in 1928 from a General Electric station in Schenectady, NY. There were no TV sets in homes at that point, so the ratings weren’t all that impressive; but, at least, the experiment was successful.

A few years later, the RCA put the ideas of Philo T. Farnsworth, Allen B. Dumont, Charles Jenkins and Vladimir K. Zworykin and others into development. The “officially’ debuted TV in the United States by telecasting parts of 1939 New York’s World Fair. This included a speech by President Franklin Roosevelt. But, since there still weren’t many TV sets in existence, most of the audience was watching the show at the Fair. The first TV receivers had 13 cm (5 inch) screens and black and white pictures. They cost about half the price of an automobile. Before long, six TV stations were on the air in the US, and many more were in development.

Meanwhile, in 1936, Germany televised the Olympics, and Great Britain began regular programming for a few hours each day. In both cases, however, there were few people with TV sets to watch. As things picked up, new, less expensive TV sets were introduced with larger screens, including the popular tabletop version. On July 1st, 1942, CBS launched 15 hours of weekly programming, including two 15-minute, Monday through Friday newscasts. The TV news was simply read from a script, radio style, by an announcer in a small announce booth. A single camera was aimed through the window of the booth. Also on July 1st, an NBC station broadcast the Dodger-Phillie baseball game – complete with a Bulova watch commercial (TV’s first commercial). The people who had seen TV were mesmerized by what they saw, and television was poised to immediately take off. But, it was not to be – not just yet.

The so-called golden age of television started in the 1950s as television began its explosive growth. Radio sets, which had dominated living rooms for several decades, had been shuffled to kitchens and bedrooms to make room for the new center of attention: TV. Television became what radio had been in its golden age – the central medium of entertainment and diversion for almost every home. Much of radio’s top on-air talent transferred to TV during this era. However, the visual advantages of the medium weren’t effectively utilized for some time. Typically, TV was simply “radio with pictures”.

Weekly shows by comedians Jack Benny and Red Skelton made the transition to TV were highly successful. New stars also emerged, including Milton Berle, and Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, who starred in the weekly situation comedy, I Love Lucy. Variety shows were especially successful. Your Show of Shows with comedians Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca was on Saturday nights, and Toast of the Town with host Ed Sullivan was on Sunday nights. Ed Sullivan, who was on the air for 20 years, admitted that he had absolutely no talent, himself – except the ability to find good talent.

Sullivan introduced singer Elvis Presley and the British rock group, The Beatles, to television audiences. If these names go back a little before your time, just know that they represent the most successful names in popular music history. At the same time, these singers ran into problems with conservative religious views and their performances had to be modified for family viewing. The phrase in The Beatles’ song I Want to Spend the Night with You was changed to I Want to Spend Some Time with You, and as Elvis Presley sang the cameras always kept their shots above his waist, so that his swiveling hips won’t offend some viewers.

In addition to popular artists and entertainers, Sullivan featured ballet, well-known opera singers, and many exceptional performers from outside the United States. Many comedians (even on his own show) mocked Sullivan’s stiff posturing and strange way of pronouncing some words. But, Ed Sullivan was responsible for introducing more new talent to American audiences than anyone in the history of broadcasting. Once discovered, some of his guests went on to have their own network TV shows.

Another television staple of the golden age of TV was the Western. Two especially popular shows of the era were Have Gun, Will Travel and Gunsmoke. The latter show, which had a long run on radio, lasted almost 20 years on TV. Some notable radio personalities, such as the original star of Gunsmoke, had great radio voices but weren’t deemed photogenic enough for TV. In some cases TV audiences adjusted, in other cases the TV versions soon went off the air. As the 50s drew to a close, action-adventure programs, including westerns, represented the most popular format. As the 60s started, television networks began to show many full-length movies that had played in theatres.

To make the films suitable for family viewing they were routinely edited for language and sex – and, to a lesser extent, for violence. (One of the writer’s first jobs in television was to edit feature-length films for broadcast.) As the supply of available films started to dwindle the networks started producing their own made-for-TV movies.

Although colour film had been around since the 1930s, until the mid-1950s, all television programming was in black and white. And, just as World War II had derailed the beginning of television in the 40s, a decade later the Korean War would delay the launch of colour television. CBS in the 40s developed a mechanical approach to colour TV. It used a large colour wheel driven by a motor. The colours in the wheel were synchronized with alternating video images behind the wheel that represented different primary colours (red, blue and green) in the original scene. The whole apparatus sat in front of your TV set and you looked through the rotating colour sections at the TV picture behind it.

Although it worked fairly well, like the early mechanical approach to television itself, it introduced some problems – not the least of which was the constant sound of the motor and the fact that you would have to keep the bearings on the large colour wheel and electric motor oiled to keep them from squeaking or failing. Not only that, but the CBS system was incompatible with the existing black and white NTSC System (The US standard originally approved by the National Television System Committee). Not only would you have to buy a new TV set to watch colour TV, but also once you got it, you couldn’t use it to see any of the many existing black and white programs.

In order to serve the large base of existing black and white receivers, each TV station would have to have two transmitters – one for black and white, and one for colour, each operating on a different channel. Today, it’s hard to understand how an ungainly system such as this could become the standard for a country, but the FCC approved the approach, and if it weren’t for the Korean War, which put things on hold, we might be saddled with the system today. Although there isn’t much about a war that’s good, with much consumer manufacturing suspended during the Korean War, engineers had time to figure out a better approach to colour TV. In this case, it was the RCA engineers.

The approach they came up was all electronic. No squeaky wheels. It was so ingenious, in fact, that it is considered by many to be one of the major technological feats of the 20th century. Rather than require new TV receivers and transmitters, the all-electronic process interleaved all the colour (chroma) information into the existing black and white (luminance) TV signal. The fact that this system incorporated a compatible colour approach was critical to its success. Compatible Colour means that black and white sets can ignore the broadcast signal, and colour sets can show both black and white and colour programming.

Everyone was happy with the system, with the possible exception of a few folks over at CBS. The FCC approved the system in 1953.

Before 1956, all TV programming had to be done live. Until that time, they only way to record TV programs was by using the somewhat less-than-desirable kinescope recordings. Consequently, the period from 1948 to 1959 (when video recording became commonplace) is referred to as The Live Decade of Television. The pressure of doing live television – if you made a mistake it just went out over the air for the whole world to see – was such good discipline that many famous TV and film stars received excellent training doing live television.
Their careers were undoubtedly helped by the fact that some truly substantive teleplays (TV dramas) were produced during this decade, productions that appealed to wealthier and better educated – the viewers that could afford the high price of TV receivers.

Interestingly, when television production moved from doing everything live, to using videotape in the late 50s, production costs increased dramatically. Videotaping productions meant that mistakes could be corrected by either stopping the tape and redoing segments or fixing problems in editing. It also meant that directors and actors often were not as well prepared and simply relied on the option of doing things over. Thus, production times, which can run into thousands of dollars a minute, were significantly extended. Because of this, the approach of doing things live-on-tapes has been adopted for many shows. This means that the show is treated as if it was live and the recording is only stopped for very major problems.

Although there were some famous goofs when everything was done live, there were also some amazing and ingenious saves by actors and announcers after thins went wrong (as they often did). Sometimes the script would have to be extemporaneously rewritten to accommodate a door that wouldn’t open, an actor that suddenly got sick, or some other unforeseen occurrences. The author was doing a live TV newscast one night when a large Fresnel light exploded over his head sending down a shower of hot chunks of broken glass. In these cases the show must go on, and without too much hesitation, it did.

With a basic overview of the production process out of the way, we can look at the key element in the process: the script. There are semi-scripted shows and fully-scripted shows. In the first category are interviews, discussions, ad-lib programs, and many demonstration and variety shows. These scripts resemble a basic outline, with only the segments and basic times listed. Although scripts for a semi-scripted show may be comparatively easy to write (since there’s little to write!), this type of show puts pressure on the director and talent to figure things out as they go and to try to bring things together on the fly.

Much in contrast, scripts for fully-scripted shows list the complete audio and video for every minute. In a fully scripted show, the overall content, balance, pace, and timing can be figured out before the production starts in order to minimize unpleasant surprises. (Notice we didn’t say eliminate.)

Documentary and hard news pieces should be reasonably concrete. That is, they should present information clearly, minimizing the possibility for misunderstanding. In fact, the better you are at clearly explaining things, the more successful you’ll be. A concrete news script is quite different in approach and structure from the script for a feature story, soft news piece, music video, or dramatic production. In the latter cases, it’s often desirable not to be too concrete – in order to allow room for personal interpretation.

An instructional video on the operation of a software program should be as explicit as possible. Given the nature of computers and computer programs, you should present information in a clear, systematic fashion. Although you’ll want to present the material in a creative, interesting, and possibly even humorous way, the challenge is in having all audience members acquire the same clear idea of a specific sequence of operational procedures. If most of the audience can successfully operate the program afterward, you’re successful; if they can’t, you’re not. In contrast to this concrete type of production are feature pieces on Jazzercise or new fashions. Given the fact that the audience has undoubtedly seen scores of television segments on fashion, the first challenge is to approach the segment in a fresh, creative, attention-getting way. Compared to this challenge, presenting the piece is easy.

Unlike software programs or stereo components, fashions are not sold based on technical specifications. Because they appeal largely to the ego and emotions, we’re less interested in communicating facts than in generating excitement, i.e. creating a positive emotional response. Likewise, a soft news piece on exercise should not emphasize facts as much as action. Its approach should be more abstract. Instead of facts, its purpose is to communicate something of the feelings surrounding exercises and those that go along with having a slim, trim, fit body.

Once you establish the intent and focus of the production and you’ll know the characteristics of the audience, you can select and arrange the program elements. In scripting content, a logical and linear sequence is the most natural approach, especially when information must be presented in a precise, step-by-step fashion. Remember the instructional computer piece we cited. Often, however, it’s not desirable to use a structured, linear presentation. In fact, the latter can get a bit predictable and boring. In dramatic productions, the techniques of using flashbacks (momentarily cutting back to earlier events) or presenting parallel stories (two or more stories running at the same time) can add variety and stimulate interest.

Whatever you do, be certain to present the materials in a way that will hold the attention and interest of your audience. You can do this by

Can a contractor build an office building without being able to understand the architect’s blueprints? Not likely. In the same way, key production personnel must understand the basics of scripts before they can create a production. A comprehensive guide to scriptwriting is beyond the scope of this course. However, when you complete this module, you should be able to understand scripts and even have a good start on being able to write one. (Remember: the most traveled route in producing is through writing.)

“Excuse me, Mr. Brinkley…” Many years ago, while dining in a Miami restaurant, a TV production student of mine saw David Brinkley, one of the most experienced and respected network anchorpersons of all time. The student strode boldly up to Mr. Brinkley, introduced himself as an aspiring TV journalist, and asked, “Mr. Brinkley, what advice could you give me to be successful in broadcast journalism?” David Brinkley, who won more awards in news than any radio or TV newscaster in history, put down his fork, thought for a moment about the question, and said, “Three things: Learn to write. Learn to write. And learn to write.”

Although you can learn the basics of writing here or in a good book, you can become a good writer only by writing. Lots of writing. Most success writers spend years writing before they start getting it right – at least right enough to start making money consistently. In a sense, initial failures aren’t failures aren’t failures at all; they’re a prerequisite for success. Thomas Edison said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

By another definition, a genius is a talented person who had done all his or her homework. These modules constitute the prerequisite homework involved in success. First, keep in mind that writing for the electronic media is not the same as writing for print. Those who write for print enjoy some advantages their broadcast counterparts don’t have. For example, a reader can go back and reread a sentence. If a sentence isn’t understood in a TV production, however, the meaning is lost – or worse, the listener is distracted while figuring out what was said.

With the written word, such things as chapter divisions, paragraphs, subheadings, italics, and boldface type guide the reader. And the spelling of sound-alike words can indicate their meaning. Things are different when you write for the ear. In order to deliver narration in a conversational style, you don’t always follow standard rules of punctuation. Ellipses…three dots…are commonly used to designate pauses. Often, complete sentences aren’t used…just as they aren’t in normal conversation. An extra helping of commas is often used to provide clues to phrasing.

Although such usage is sometimes inconsistent with proper written form and your English 101 teacher may not approve, the overriding consideration in writing narration is clarity. This entails making it easy for an announcer to read, and making it easy for an audience to understand. The way we perceive verbal information also complicates things. When we read, we see words in groups or thought patterns. This helps us grasp the meaning. But, when we listen, information is delivered one word at a time. To make sense out of a sentence, we must retain the first words in memory while adding all subsequent words to them, until the sentence or thought is complete. If the sentence is too complex or takes too long to unfold, meaning is missed or confused. Of course, a narrator can go a long way toward ensuring understanding through proper phrasing and word emphasis. This gives the spoken word a major advantage over the written word.

Writers write video scripts in Broadcast Style. With allowance for sentence variety, video scripts use short, concise, direct sentences – weeding out unnecessary words. You should also be aware of some common mistakes, such as the difference between further and farther and less than and fewer than. Why do these things make a difference? Because some listeners will catch you on these things and try to embarrass you by proving their superior grasp of the English language. (Take it from someone with a lot of on-air experience; it happens regularly!) And you don’t want one of these people to review your audition tape.

That said the English language is constantly changing. Things which were deemed wrong at one point can eventually come into regular use – and become accepted. (For example, in the preceding sentence which should actually be that, but this is another case where things have been changing. Close proximity is becoming accepted, even though proximity means close, so it’s redundant. There are less concerns about good grammar in advertising should be fewer concerns. Fewer relates to things you can count; less to things you can’t. Whom, even when correctly used in speech, now sounds stilted. Irregardless can be found in a couple of dictionaries – even though it’s not seen as acceptable. In writing your scripts, remember that the active voice is preferred over the inactive or passive voice. Nouns and verbs are preferred over adjective, and specific words over general ones.

Avoid dependent clauses at the beginning of sentences. Attribution should come at the beginning of sentences (“According to the Surgeon General…”) rather than at the end, which is common in newspaper writing. In broadcast style, we want to know from the beginning, who’s doing the saying. The classic reference on writing clarity and simplicity is a little 70-page book called ELEMENTS of STYLE. Even seasoned journalists keep it handy.

A recent book on punctuation is Lynne Truss’ and Bonnie Timmons’ EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES. Who would believe an instructional book on a mundane subject like punctuation could make the New York Times’ best-seller list? But as the saying goes, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it” – something that’s especially important in writing scripts.

With a bit of help from Ms. Deborah Potter of RTNDF, the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation, here are ten guidelines for writing news:

• While making sure you bring the most interesting and surprising elements of the story to the forefront of your story, don’t give everything away right at the beginning. Maintain interest by spreading these nuggets throughout the story. And try not to let the lean-in steal all the thunder from the story.

• Remember that nouns and verbs are stronger than adjectives and adverbs. Don’t tell viewers what they should be feeling by using adjectives, especially shopworn adjectives, such as tragic, amazing and stunning. If the story’s facts don’t make such thing obvious, you might want to re-examine your approach.

• Avoid jargon; use well-known terms. For example, your audience probably won’t know that ENG and B-roll mean.

• Write (tell!) the story as if you were trying to catch the interest of a friend. Try mentally following up on the phrases – Guess what…, this may be hard to believe, but…, etc.

• After you write it, set it aside for at least ten minutes and concentrate on something else. Then go back and review the story with a fresh perspective. Cut out unnecessary phrase and word, making certain nothing is deleted that would hurt the story if it were gone.

• Don’t rely on the soundtrack to tell the story or explain the video. The basic idea should be obvious from the video. At the same time, the audio and video should complement and strengthen each other.

• Screen the complete audio and video story – package – as a doubting Thomas. Have you made statements that could be challenged? Ideally, your clearly stated and verified facts will silence any rational critic.

Keep in mind the basic guideline of correlating (relating) audio and video because viewers are accustomed to having what they see on the screen relate to what they hear – generally in the form of dialogue or narration. (Note that the intentionally long and complex sentence you just read would not be approved for broadcast style.) If viewers see one thing and hear another, things get confusing. Even though you want audio and video to relate, watch out for the see Dick run approach where the audio states the obvious. If you can clearly see what’s happening on the screen, this can get downright annoying.

Although radio drama had to slip many things into the dialogue to tip off the listeners to what they couldn’t see – Emma, why are you staring out the window? –, this is hardly the case with TV, where you can see what’s taking place. The trick is to write slightly off the pictures. This means that, while you don’t describe the pictures, your words aren’t so far removed from what is being seen that you split viewer attention. This technique involves a delicate balancing act.

With more than one hundred TV channels available to viewers in some areas and millions of pages of information available on the Internet, to name just two sources of information, one of today’s biggest problems is information overload. In TV production, the goal is not just to unload information on viewers. To be successful, engage your audience and clearly communicate selected information in a manner that will both enlighten and possibly even entertain. We can absorb only a limited amount of information at a time. The average viewer has preconceptions and internal and external distractions that get in the way during communication. If a script is packed with too many facts, or if the information is not clearly presented, he viewer will become confused, lost and frustrated – and simply tune to another channel.

Some people argue that, unlike writing, video and film productions don’t have standardized grammar (e.g. conventions or structure). Although video has abandoned much of the grammar established by early filmmaking, even in this MTV era we can use various techniques to add structure to formal productions. In dramatic production, lap-dissolves (when two video sources overlap for a few seconds during the transition from one to the other) often signal a change in time or place.

Fade-ins and fade-outs, which apply to both audio and video, can be likened to the beginning and end of book chapters. A fade-out consists of a two or three second transition from a full signal to black and silence. A fade-in is the reverse. Fade-ins and fade-outs often signal a major change or division in a production, such as a major passage of time. (But often is a long way from always.) Traditionally, teleplays (television plays) and screenplays (film scripts) start with a fade-in and close with a fade-out.

A number of terms and abbreviations are used in scriptwriting. For instance, some describe camera movements. When the entire camera is moved toward or away from the subject, it’s referred to as a dolly. A zoom, an optical version of a dolly, achieves somewhat the same effect. A script notation might say, camera zooms in for close-up of John or camera zooms out to show John is not alone, etc. A lateral move is a truck.

Some terms designate shots. Cuts or takes are instant transitions from one video source to another. In grammatical terms, shots can be likened to sentences where each shot is a visual statement. The cover shot – or establishing shot – is designated by Wide Shot, WS or Long shot, LS. Occasionally, the abbreviations XLS for eXtreme Long Shot or VLS for Very Long Shot are used. These all can give the audience a basic orientation to the geography of a scene (i.e. who is standing where) after which you’ll cut to closer shots. In the relatively low-resolution medium of Standard-Definition Television, SDTV, this type of shot is visually weak because important details aren’t easy to see. Film and HDTV, High-Definition Televisions, don’t have quite the same problem.

Cover or establishing shots should be held only long enough to orient viewers to the relationship between major scene elements. (How close is the burning shed to the house?) Thereafter, they can be momentarily used as reminders or updates on scene changes as re-establishing shots. TV scripts are usually divided into audio and video columns, with shot designations in the video column.

• An MCU, Medium Close-Up is a shot cropped between the shoulders and the belt line, rather than the waist.

• A relatively straight-on CU, Close-Up is the most desirable for interviews. Changing facial expressions, which are important to understanding a conversation, can easily be seen.

• XCU’s are eXtreme Close-Ups. We reserve this type of shot for dramatic impact; the XCU may show just the eyes of an individual. (With objects, an XCU is often necessary to reveal important detail.)

• A two-shot or three-shot (2-S or 3-S) designates a shot of two or three people in one scene.

• The term subjective shot indicates that the audience (camera) will see what the character sees. It often indicates a handheld camera that moves in a walking or running motion while following a character. Subjective camera shots can add drama and frenzy to chase scenes.

• We sometimes indicate camera angles, such as Bird’s Eye View, High Angle, Eye Level and Low Angle on scripts.

• A canted shot or Dutch angle shot is tilted 25 to 45 degrees to one side, causing horizontal lines to run up or downhill.

Although scriptwriters occasionally feel it necessary to indicate camera shots and angles on a script, this is an area that’s best left to the director to decide.

• POV (point of view): Dramatic scripts will often note that a shot will be seen from the point of view of a particular actor

• OS (over-the-shoulders): Picture shows the back of person’s head and possibly one shoulder with the main subject beyond this point and facing the camera; also designated as O/S and X/S shots.

After a 50-year career in broadcast news, David Brinkley died in June 2003, a few weeks before his 83rd birthday. He and his TV news co-anchor, Chet Huntley, are credited with establishing the popularity and credibility of TV news in the United States. Mr. Brinkley had to give up covering presidential candidates because he was so recognizable that when he accompanied the candidate, more people would gather around him than the candidate. Noted for his sage observations, he once printed out that history provides many examples of generals seizing power and putting journalists in jail. But it provides no examples of reporters seizing power and putting generals in jail.

In this module on the Social Impact of Television, we’ll look at some of the positive aspects of the medium. The points will be briefly summarized in three major categories.

We previously noted that many social problems are only acted up after they are reported on television. Newspapers and the print media provide a degree of separation from reality, but TV graphically brings happenings right into living rooms, complete with colour, sound, time sequences, and even to some degree, the associated feelings. Reading about thousands of children starving in some part of the world is one thing; actually seeing the misery is quite another. Reading about people being tortured because of their political beliefs is one thing; hearing the people involved talk about what happened to them, and seeing their scars (and maybe even tears) is quite another.

Compared to newspapers, television may be superficial when it comes to reporting facts. However, good pictures can still be worth a thousand words. (The original phrase had it as ten thousand words, but you get the point.) Pictures can convey many things beyond facts and statistics. In democracies television can be used to inform the electorate about things they need to know to make informed choices at the ballot box. When TV is responsibly programmed and viewed with a critical, educated eye, it’s capable of looking through the gloss and façades of people and events, giving us glimpses of the reality lying beneath.

Television is capable of making us an eyewitness to events as they happen. These events can range from the hostile invasion of a country to Monday Night Football. In this regard, TV breaks down the barriers of distance and becomes an extension of our senses.

To a great extent we’ve already discussed this in previous modules. Suffice it to say, television allows us to momentarily escape our problems and experience the experiences of other people. We can become awestruck with the beauty and grace of the arts, or caught up in the frenzy and excitement of an athletic event. We can even allow ourselves to be momentarily lost in a beautiful fantasy world. Thus, our spirits can be lifted; and sometimes even hope and faith restored.

Before the mass media, an important threat to health, a new medicine, or improved ways of doing things could take months or even years to become commonly known. Today, that time is typically cut down to a day – or even a few hours. Included in this category are new products and services that will make our life easier or safer, new recipes, important safety procedures, and even instructions on home improvement and repair. With television we are put in the center of the marketplace of ideas. We can compare these ideas, evaluate them, and then decide for ourselves whether to accept or reject them.

THESE NEW IDEAS CAN ALSO THREATEN TRADITIONAL BELIEFS AND THE ESTABLISHED ORDER OF DOING THINS. BUT, IF HISTORY HAS TAUGHT US ANYTHING IT’S TAUGHT US THAT A SOCIETY THAT DOES NOT ALLOW ITSELF TO CHANGE AND ADJUST TO THE TIMES MAY FIND THAT INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL PRESSURES BUILT TO A POINT OF AN EXPLOSION IN THE FORM OF POLITICAL REVOLUTION OR INTERNAL VIOLENCE.

This has happened in many countries throughout history. In the minds of some analysts the reluctance to make needed changes was what brought on the disintegration of Soviet Russia (USSR), one of the largest and most powerful nations in the world. Even on a personal level, not to change can mean that we get left behind professionally, and replaced by people with newer ideas – or even be replaced by a machine. In today’s competitive, information-centered world, to stand still is to fall behind.