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Peter Jennings & David Susskind speak at Television Symposium
Tue, Feb. 6, 1968
On Tuesday, February 6th, 1968, Television producer David Susskind, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Newton Minow and Journalist and News Anchor Peter Jennings spoke during the PAS lecture on Television and censorship. The symposium discussed various topics relating to television and media, including television's changing influence from being exclusively limited to higher income families to a more public medium like newspapers and magazines. According to Susskind, "they (the upper socio-economic class) could appreciate quality programming. Today, television is a 'piece of America'".
Peter Jennings discussed censorship and its relationship to television news, citing ways in which the U.S. military controlled and supressed information on the Vietnam war. In addition to discussing the subjectivity of news as a medium, Jennings also challenged his audience to "bring pressure on the people (advertisers and station managers) who are responsible for the lack of information you receive."
Newton Minow concluded the symposium with a discussion highlighting the need for educational TV which informs as well as entertains. In order to serve the public rather than the private interest, Minow argued that Television should "should be used to recreate history by inciting people to think and to debate all issues, past and present."
Event Type:
Bibliography:
Dickinsonian. Feb. 9, 1968. Pg. 3