Exam 3 (Media and Society)

John Logie Baird

Scottish inventor who gave the first public demonstration of a working television system in 1926. He was a pioneer of mechanical TV whose work was crucial in sparking public and scientific interest in television's possibilities. He proved that moving images could be transmitted electronically.

Philo Farnsworth

An American inventor who transmitted the first all-electronic television image on September 7, 1927. His invention, the image dissector camera tube, was the foundation for all modern electronic TV. His work demonstrated the superiority of electronic scanning over mechanical systems, setting the technical standard for the medium.

Vladimir Zworykin

Russian-American engineer who filed a patent for an all-electronic television system in 1923 and later invented the iconoscope camera tube. His inventions helped turn television from a laboratory curiosity into a commercially viable and broadcastable technology. Through his invention: iconoscope was highly practical. and a sensitive camera tube.

Edward R. Murrow

A legendary CBS newsman, who on March 9, 1954, dedicated a full episode of the documentary series See It Now to criticizing Senator Joseph McCarthy. It showed television’s potential to serve as a powerful check on political power, holding a powerful figure accountable on a national stage and influencing public opinion.

Walter Cronkite

Anchor and managing director of the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981. He became a symbol of television news’ authority. His steady, seemingly impartial presence guided the nation through major events like the JFK assassination and the Vietnam War, demonstrating TV’s power to unify and inform a mass audience.

Chet Huntley & David Brinkley

Anchors of NBC’s The Huntley-Brinkley Report, which began on October 29, 1956. His nightly broadcast ratings success that helped shift the publics primary news source from newspapers to television, establishing the nightly network newscast as a central ritual in American life.

The Quiz Show Scandal

In 1958, it was revealed that popular shows like NBC’s Twenty One were rigged (a quiz show). This caused a national scandal. It forced the networks to take control of programming away from sponsors and implement stricter standards. A new era of corporate responsibility.

I Love Lucy

Aired on CBS from 1951 to 1957, starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. They pioneered the sale of reruns, creating the lucrative syndication market that transformed television into a multi-billion dollar industry. It was like a fun family show but they helped invent the rerun and syndication of televison.

McCarthyism

Early 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s crusade against alleged communists created a climate of fear that led to a blacklist in Hollywood and TV. It helped demonstrate that television could be used as a weapon and a witness.

The Ratings System

A.C. Nielsen adapted his “Audimeter” from radio to television in 1950. Nielsen ratings became the primary measure of a shows popularity, directly dictating which programs lived or died and what content advertisers would pay for. This system have immense power to quantifiable audience data, shaping TV programming toward broad, mass-appeal content and cementing the commercial nature of medium.

ARPA (The Advanced Research Projects Agency)

A U.S. Defense Department agency, created in 1958 following the launch of Sputnik. ARPA funded the development of ARPANET, the world’s first packet-switching network and the direct precursor to the internet. This initiative laid the technical and theoretical groundwork for the digital revolution that would eventually challenge television’s dominance.

Sputnik

The first artificial satelite, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. The Sputnik crisis shocked the U.S. into a massive investment in science and technology education. This fear of technological inferiority led to the creation of ARPA, which, in turn, funded the research that led to the internet.

J.C.R. Licklider

A psychologist and computer scientist who, in the 1960s, headed ARPA’s Information Processing Techniques Office. Licklider’s vision of a networked future (where computers and humans worked in “symbiosis”) provided the intellectual blueprint for the internet. Funded the key research projects that would eventually create the ARPANET.

Marshall McLuhan

A Canadian media theorist who rose to prominence in the 1960s. His famous phrase, “the medium is the message,” is a term used to explain that the way information is delivered (the medium) has a bigger impact on people and society than the actual information being delivered (the message). By which he means that the important thing about media is not the messages they carry but the way the medium itself affects human consciousness and society at large. In other words owning a TV that we watch is more significant that anything we watch on it. The focus should be on how communication happens rather than what is communicated because the nature of media has a greater effect that any content that the media carries. (EX: the difference between texting somebody versus calling, with texting it’s more short and informal but with calling it feels more personal and can be more formal at times.)

John Walson

Created the first commercial cable system in 1948 to bring TV signals to mountanious Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. This innovation broke the dominance of broadcast networks, eventually leading to an explosion of niche channels and fragmenting the mass audience.

The Kennedy-Nixon Debates

TV changed politics forever; the Kennedy-Nixon debates in 1960 demonstrated that image and poise were as important as substance, favoring the telegenic Kennedy. The idea that these debates were a crucial point in political history and the catalyst for television's role and the use of debates in the electoral process is a crucial point in political history.

• One of the most discussed issues with the 1960 debates was the notion that people who listened to the radio were more likely to vote for Nixon while people who watched the debates on television were more likely to vote for Kennedy. One explanation for this phenomenon was the presidential candidates' physical appearances during the debates, with Kennedy appearing better on television than Nixon. ,

• Both candidates not only used television for the debates, but they also aired commercials to attract more voters. The Kennedy Campaign aired over 200 commercials using footage from the debates, rallies, and even Jackie Kennedy speaking Spanish to attract more Hispanic voters. Kennedy also used celebrity endorsements, such as Henry Fonda.

The Vietnam War

(AKA “The Living Room War”) The Vietnam War was the first war to be televised. In 1968, the deadliest year of the war, news programming doubled in length, and the nation watched as CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite announced that he believed America had lost the war. Setting a tone for years to come, the news became a political force in the polarization of American opinion. Journalists and broadcasters of the war painted American efforts abroad in an unfavorable light. Anti-war demonstrations were on the rise and televised throughout the country. The broadening media landscape of 1969, its daily presence in American homes, and its effect on public opinion became a staple of our modern media landscape.

• Graphic, uncesored footage brought the horrors of combat directly into American homes, fueling the anti-war movement

The Civil Rights Movement

Similar to the Vietnam War, TV coverage of the Civil Rights Movement broadcast images of police brutality in the South, galvanizing national support for desegregation. Despite the prominence of racially biased television and media during the Civil Rights Movement, coverage of demonstrations and interviews of protestors sparked national interest and quickened the pace towards racial equality.

• During the 1950s and 1960s

TV as a Disruptive Technology

TV was a revolutionary force that reshaped daily life, from how we arranged furniture to how we received news. It dethroned radio as the primary home entertainment and eclipsed newspapers as the main source of information, creating a more centralized, visual, and immediate national culture 

TV Networks & Affiliates

The major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) provide programming which is then broadcast by a nationwide system of local affiliate stations; this structure allowed for national unity in programming while maintaining local relevance.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996

A sweeping deregulation of the media industry. An Act to promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices and higher quality services for American telecommunications consumers and encourage the rapid development of new telecommunications technologies. Effects: it allowed for massive consolidation, leading to a few large conglomerates owning hundreds of stations across the country. Critics argue that this consolidation has reduced localism, limited the diversity of voices, and given a small number of corporations (like Sinclair and Nexstar) outsized influence over public discourse.

Major Media Ownership Groups

Sinclair, Tegna, Nexstar, Gray, and Tribune are massive station groups that own or operate hundreds of local affiliates nationwide. Their size allows them to exert significant influence over what news is covered and how it is presented, often by sharing centrally-produced content across all their stations.

Business of TV

Television is a commercial enterprise driven by advertising. The entire system—what shows are made, when they air, and what they contain—is designed to deliver specific audiences to advertisers, with ratings as the primary currency.