Television history

1. Television history Politics on television

2. Public Broadcast Service in the USA • Educators and teachers propose a separate publicly funded educational and cultural channel • A privately funded channel National Education Television is created in 1951, but it works on the UHF range which only 7% of sets can receive • The Congress agrees to fund NET and orders sets to be tunable also to the UHF range • 1967 funding is organized through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting – the system is considered to be under funded and susceptible to political steering

3. Nixon cuts funding and nominates conservative managers → • Political programming disappears • Since 1970 PBS has functioned as a loose network that produces also political documentaries (e.g. Frontline) and distributes quality programmes • PBS stations are commonly operated by non-profit organizations, state agencies, local authorities or universities

4. Politics on US television (I) • 1940 Republican National Convention televised • Senate hearings on a criminal case televised in 1951 • Edward R. Munrow’s See It Now 1954 has an important role in bringing down senator McCarthy and ending his paranoid communist hunt • Before the 1952 presidential election Robert Montgomery teaches Eisenhower how to appear relaxed on telly

5. Nixon, Kennedy and television (I) • 1952 Nixon saves his career by giving a homely television speech • In the first ever presidential election television debate in 1960 with Kennedy Nixon is ill, appears furtive and looses the election. Radio listeners find him convincing • Kennedy begins broadcasting of presidential press conferences • Kennedy talks to the nation on TV during the attempted at the Bay of pigs and the Cuban missile crises • After Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas television has a major role in the process of national mourning

6. Nixon, Kennedy and television (II) • President Nixon attempts to control television by appearing and addressing the nation in sponsored programmes. He is deeply annoyed by the criticism he receives • During the 1972 visit to China television treats Nixon adoringly • Television has a major role in making the Watergate scandal public and causing Nixon’s fall • ”I’m not a crook!” speech 1973 • Nixon - Frost interview 1977

7. Vietnam war on television • Individual events shown on television • Self-immolation of Buddhist monk QuangDuc as a protest against South Vietnam government • Image of a shooting of a tied prisoner at close range • Little children burned by napalm • Television programmes about the war: • Morley Safers: Vietnam (1967) • Felix Greene: Inside North Vietnam (1968) • Peter Davis: The Selling of the Pentagon (1971) • Massive anti-war demonstrations are broadcast • Public opinion in the US turns against the war • Media control becomes a part of overall military strategy

8. State control of broadcasting in Britain (I) John Reith during 1926 general strike: • “Assuming the BBC is for the people, and that the Government is for the people, it follows that the BBC must be for the government in this crisis too.” • As the government are sure that they are right both on facts of the dispute and on the constitutional issues, any steps which we may take to communicate the truth dispassionately should be to the advantage of the Government. • Emphasizes that BBC serves government’s interests best as an independent corporation • Leader of the opposition and the Archbishop of Canterbury are not given a chance to voice their opinions

9. State control of broadcasting in Britain (II) • According to 1927 regulations BBC should be independent of pressure groups and sectional interests. Covering events with conflicting views should always be a “balanced”. • No such matter was to be treated that was to be debated in Parliament within the next two weeks.

10. Criticism related to reporting of military affairs • The Suez crisis of 1956: Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden claimed this was an instance of a national emergency and that therefore the BBC should only present the government views on the matter. Yet the opposition demanded the right to reply to the broadcasts of Eden and his ministers • The Conservative Government expressed its dissatisfaction with BBC coverage of the Falkland war and USA’s air strike on Libya (1982) • Greece: The Hidden War (CH4, 1986) Treatment of British army interference with Greek domestic politics led to strong complaints by powerful figures in the British military establishment

11. Zircon scandal in 1988 • Duncan Campbell is commissioned by BBC Scotland to make a programme on an espionage satellite, the costs of which have never been approved in any parliamentary body • The programme is shelved • Campbell publishes his discoveries in the New Statesman • The police raids Campbell’s apartment and BBC Scotland offices in order to find evidence of a breach of silence act. • The document is screened by civil rights organizations

12. Northern Ireland on BBC • As troubles in Northern Ireland began in 1969 the government made it clear that TV companies were not to remain neutral. Both BBC and ITA adopted a line of ”responsible news broadcasting”. • The Question of Ulster (1972) narrowly escapes being shelved • In the 1970 the issue of the use of torture in interrogations of terrorist suspects is avoided • In the 1980s the claim that Northern Ireland security forces would have adopted shoot-to-kill practices is not discussed critically • An interview with a representative of the Irish national Liberation Army almost leads to the Attorney-General to press charges against the BBC on the grounds of anti-terrorist legislation.

13. Broadcasting on terrorism • 800 million people follow live broadcast of negotiations with the Palestine terrorists during the Munich Olympic Games → increase of aircraft hi-jackings • US media follows mercilessly President Carter’s failure to solve the Teheran hostage crises • The assassination of Lord Mountbatten 1979 turns out to be a major propaganda loss for the IRA • In Spain ETA has lost its support as reports on bomb attacks and anti-terrorist marches have been broadcast • Human interest in hostage dramas – ’Handholding’ • 9/11 • School killings

14. Governmental control in France • RTF was established as autonomous body but it remained in tight governmental control • Gaullist exploitation of RTF in the 1962 election causes outrage and leads into establishing of a impartial body l’Office de Radiodiffusion –Télevision Française (ORTF) • In practice the office remains under Gaullist control until Du Gaulle resigns • Conservative leaders constantly accuse media of left-wing bias

15. Programmes on early Soviet television Aim: “To produce Marxist-Leninist world view and promote the cultural development of all Soviet people • Your Leninist Library • I Serve the Soviet Union • We Will Fulfil the Five Year Plan Ahead of Time