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Thursday, February 24, 1977
University Daily Kansan
Focus on Television
Opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Kansas or the School of Journalism
TV: a love-hate affair
We interrupt our regular editorial page to bring you this special message. . . .
Are you tired of 50s spinoffs and police drama? Do you have a crush on Farah Fawcett-Majors? Do you think that TV is either the greatest invention since fire or else an insult to your intelligence? If so, then this page is for you.
Television is by far the most influential appliance in your home. In the fewer than 30 years it has been on the American scene, it
nas become one of the most hated and loved facets of American life.
It has been accused of destroying our ability to read, teaching violence to our children and turning us all into simplistic morons.
It has also been praised for bringing about the Global Village and a new age for mankind.
Anything that important certainly deserves at least a special page in the University Daily Kansan.
it's 6 p.m. The television set
gets dark for a moment, then
brightens to show a shiny,
paneled studio.
Trivia, fluff invade the news
A semi-circular desk sits on a shag carpet in the middle of the studio. The desk is panelled to match the walls behind it.
Behind the desk are three well-scrubbed, smiling faces. The faces rest atop bodies clothed in Johnny Carson coats or clothes by Dior. The teeth are Ultra-Brite white.
The face in the middle begins to talk. It chats with the others about something funny that happened in town, a studio and about the newest movie in town. After a few moments of such pleasantries, she asks, "What happened to ob, by the way, something happened in world news today."
THE LOCAL EVENING news has begun.
a creature born of television stations in metropolitan areas. It has become the subject of study and scorn within the television industry and the journalism profession.
The happy news format is informal. Its set is designed to remind viewers of a confey,
It's a "happy news" program,
residents what tomorrow's weather would be.
PRODUCERS SOON stepped back, took a look at their telecasts and decided that news they were interested in. They probably were right.
So the team format, a la Huntley and Brinkley, was
Jerry Seib
Editorial Writer
wheeled into the local studio.
Sets were brightened and made
more informal. Stations
increased their use of film reports
and pictures to accompany
news stories.
modern living room. Its purpose is to entertain and, to a lesser degree, to inform.
There was once a time when local news programs featured a drab man in a plain sport coat reading news "shorts". Usually the same man would read the sports news and another announcer, probably untrained in meteorology, would tell area
of hair, shiny teeth and a pleasant voice. Producers showed a remarkable willingness to sacrifice quality of coverage and presentation for aesthetics.
Aut this was fine. Then things were carried too far. Newcasters, many of them good journalists, weighed ad-judgements.
THE TEAM FORMAT disintegrated into the chit-chat format. Newsmen were drawn together at the beginning of the show to spend precious minutes warming their audiences to the news. The anchorman and his cohorts would share trivia, banish the humor and unknowl, before launching into the news. The program soon resembled the Tonight Show.
And when the program did get around to news, it was a kind of news that was different from any most viewers had experienced. Some call it fuff, some call it solf note. Whatever the term, the news had great doses, stories about friends, happy stories and humor—all, unavoidably, at the expense of harder news.
Kuralt—fine journalists who
kurtal not proclaim to be
entertainers—have written and
read the news about the
happy new newsletter.
They say that local news programs aren't giving viewers what they need to know. They question the ability of untrained news reporters to valid news judgments or to spot news that should be reported.
IN THE EARLY years of the happy news trend their warnings went unheeded. But now there is some evidence that producers are seeing the error of their ways and are quietly pushing out the happy news format.
Representatives of the television industry were predicting the death of happy news at last fall's Sigma Delta Chi, Society of Professional journalists, convention in Los Angeles. One can only hope that the TV show will be back. But a look at news shows from Kansas City gives rise to some skepticism.
American businesses have suffered years of public criticism for their ruthless policies. The recent undertaking of several large corporations, that with drawing their sponsorships of violent television programs, has a hefty round of anglism.
Corporations join antiviolence forces
The subject of violence on television is an old one, but regular television viewers will readily admit that this day-day reality is still full of it.
make $20,000 or more annually are thinking of boycotting products that are sponsored on those nouns.
It has been estimated that 35 per cent of those who watch television regularly are beginning to avoid violent programs, and 10 per cent of those television watchers who
AMONG THE organizations
drawn reaction from corporations that no longer advertise on programs considered unprofitable or in poor operations are: Best Foods, Kimberly-Clark, General Foods, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Brother & Gamma, and General Mills.
opposing violence on television are: the American Medical Association (AMA), the National Partnership (PTA), the National Citizen's Committee for Broadcasting (NCCB), the National Council of Churches Southern Baptist Convention.
Television news programs should be delivering just that—that the program that delivers news without fluff can't be successful. Hughes Rudd proves that television news is the news each morning on CBS,
Jay Bemis Editorial Writer
This trend has been spreading across the country for the last decade. It has not gone unobserved or uncriticized. Longtime newsmen such as Walter Crinkite and Charles
Don Johnston, president of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, suggests that sponsors are perhaps risking guilt-by-association by sponsoring violent programming, and he regards these antiviolence forces as potent.
The AMA has called television violence a mental-
Their campaign has already
health problem and an environmental issue.
"TV has been quick to raise questions of social responsibility with industries which pollute the air," Richard Palmer, president of the AMA, noted. "As television ... may be creating a more serious problem than air pollution."
THE GOAL, IN SHORT,
became entertainment. If some
news was conveyed in the
process, that was icing on the
plate, and it was possible for
ratings, television
news producers had sold out.
THE AMA HAS asked 10 major corporations to review their policies about sponsoring violence. The AMA's action has drawn quick responses from such companies as General Electric, Kroger and Joseph Schiltz Brewing, all of which have promised to look
Television news can be both entertaining and informative, and maybe, just maybe, we are awakening to that fact.
more closely at their sponsoring policies. A recent study has shown that Chevrolet, a division of GM, was "Far and away the advertiser of the most prime-time violent programming." Also, an AMA booklet is being published to educate parents of their children about habitats. The AMA hopes that the PTA will distribute the booklet to its 6.6 million members across the nation.
THE PTA, IN TURN, has devised its own campaign against television violence. It has a step-by-step plan which may include program monitoring; guidelines for protecting to local stations; new equipment needed of the previous plans work, boycotting businesses and the programs they sponsor.
Another ardent supporter of curbing television violence is the NCCB. It has complied a list of the most violent protesters in the 100-point violence scale. Members of its top 10, with their ranks are: “Quest” (NBC), “Starsky” (ABC), “Baretta” (ABC), “Baba Baa Black Sheep” (NBCP), “B65; Baa Five-Halve” (CBS), “60; Six Million Dollar Man” (ABC), “54; Kojak” (NBC), “Sleepover” (NBCP), “Delcechio” (CBS), 52, and “Serpecio” (NBC), 51.
But it seems that Nicholas Johnson of the NCBC put it best in saying, "Advertisers have always exerted that pressure. Consumers are doing this as a matter of self-defense."
IT HAS BEEN suggested that affiliate programs be allowed to look at previews of network programs before they are broadcast, since such affiliates have complained that they don't receive programs in ample time to relect them.
But to many, this, in addition to sponsors dropping ads from programs, is viewed as a form of censorship.
One advertising executive says, "The use of economic muscle to dictate what broadcasters should not present is often insufficient and as strongly resisted for television as it would be were
And now some words about the sponsors
Quick-a commercial.
Time to race for the Fritos,
the beer, the doorbell,
the bathroom-though perhaps not
necessarily in that order.
But you'll have to move fast. Even though that once-brief getting longer, even though that getting-longer message soon becomes two, three or four, we breaks in the action is a must.
You've barely enough time to water a couple of plants, rip open a box of Ritr crackers or pop-the-top off of a cool Coors. You're out there, where you are, merely taking the time to fluff up the old
bellowing, "How do YOU spell relief?"
The hard sell is back. Dazzlers like these were listed among the 100 best commercials in 1975 by ad men.
Advertising is big business; its ability to cow even the most devoted customers is much power. We have instant soup, herbal shampoo, pills that can handle diarrhea or constipation, and pathogena politicians (no
We are ordered not to smell like we smell, to have hair at various places where it stubbornly grows anyway or to bech when gas from below beckons. If violence or
Bill Sniffen
Editorial Writer
pillow, you'll miss the first part of the next segment of your favorite television show. And, if you watch it, I am, you probably realized that it's best to sit through the commercial(s) and get the jalapeno bean dip when he criticizes woman bounds off the screen.
HAVING HAD TO sit through commercials, I've come to two conclusions. First, Madison Avenue and its connecting alleyways across the country think we're all a bunch of idiots. Second, we are all a bunch of idiots.
"Give me the Campbell life"
some mornon with a tennis
racket sings "I am stuck on
Band-Aid and Band-Aid's
on me," her equally moronic
child resounds. In compes hubby.
television has made us insensitive to their needs, sales, commercials have surely made us just as insensitive our own.
**WHO'S TO BLAME?**
Neanderthal doubtless got nagging backaches (hard work), and she didn't. Washington surely dropped a denture or two in his soup; and yes, even little Shirley Temple once wore one time or another, used Odoco-Eaters in her slippers.
entity. How a new-car salesman can really believe there is a fundamental difference between a Maverick and a Vega is beyond me. Is Fruit of the Loom the absolute when one is considering an underwear purchase?
Yet our salesmen, to be good at their trades, must ascribe to the maxim that to sell a product, one must thoroughly believe in it. If he is successful, he will be completely sure of his product, and completely unaware of his self-deception.
But times were tough then.
TIMES ARE TOUGHER
now; we've got too much to
choose from.
TV has a worldwide influence
To blame the advertising crowd alone would be to forget that it takes two to tango—no matter what brand of shoes one tangoes in. but the ad man does his share, and he is a curious
THE OTHER SHOE is worn by folks like us. When Speedy says "Plop plop, fizz fizz, with a relief it is," we believe him. When Jolin' Dio Jimdango touts Mister Coffee as the best coffee-maker on the market, his word is law.
You might as well ask what taking Gerald and being in love have to do with each other. There she is, sweet thing, with her kindness, and easily saying "I'm in love and I take Gerald." Their late-night encounters must be a thing of beauty: "Haven't you forgotten something, dear," hubby whispers hoarely Light, camera, action-write famous Gerald line, cut.
pletely for one month each summer to give citizens a chance to get out and about.
And no one complains.
But we get exactly what we deserve, so we can't complain. One could request a bit more class in commercials, but goods don't get sold that way. And pay television, without commercials, isn't likely to get anybody's vote.
I'D PUNCH HER in the mouth.
THE UNITED STATES INFORMATION Agency and American Forces Network provide a variety of TV shows designed to provide entertainment for American
There is one solution.
How do I spell relief?
Throughout the world, at any hour and on any day, the lives of millions of people are being molded and stimulated by that gargantuan product of 20th century technology, the
Just 20 years ago it was predominantly in the United States and the Western world that the magic eye radiated its beam across countless sitting rooms. Today the box is a high consumer priority in all but the most developed nations, and plays an ever increasing role in creating public opinion, propagating ideology and hence influencing political and social change.
How do I spell relief?
BBC PROGRAMS are financed by a license fee paid annually for every TV, while the independent channel is financed
T-u-r-n t-h-e d-a-m-n t-b-i-n-g o-f-f.
N
citizens abroad, as well as to influence public attitudes.
graps with the medium and put it in a realistic perspective. There, TV is banned on Thursday and shuts down com-
Co office cour the le Cent reme
TV'S RAPID WORLD development has resulted in a number of different systems, most of which provide a blend of audio and visual media musical shows, quiz shows and news. Whereas commercial programs dominate the U.S. stations, balanced only by the low-budget, high quality of many countries' networks receive government help and finance. In Britain, the BWC was onmittent until commercial video was introduced in the late 1800s today, viewed in choice of three channels: the popular BBC 1, the more culturally biased BBC 2 and an independent channel similar to
America isn't the only nation that has been transformed across the globe by TV. The British are notorious for their high quality production
As the magic box continues to spread its signals across the globe, it seems that only the fcelanders have really come to
Television's impact abroad has been dynamic, for it is a medium that many govern-ments influence an illiterate public.
Paul Addison
Editorial Writer
of documentaries and zany comedies, as well as historical dramas such as "The Forsey Toys" and "Upstairs, Downstairs."
In Latin America, too, where many nations have high rates of contagions of receivers compared with their per capita incomes, governments use the medium to regulate entertainment providers.
by eight minutes of ads every hour. In the near future, according to a recent British report, consumers will channel their payment to EPS.
Cit office after remo
BEHIND THE IRON Curtain,
Communist ideology and
government practice
furniture (flauted), though
propaganda programs which
receive low ratings compared
with sports and entertainment
Across the English channel, the French television broadcasting system has undergone recent decentralization that has split up the old federating body, ORTF, into six separate establishments. It has been president Valery Descaret and the government guarantee the independence of broadcasting from government control and to bring viable cost-cutting measures into effect.
The comp coun to re
WHEN YOUR SHOW premiered seven seasons ago, you raised the eyebrows of a lot of critics and bored viewers. They said your show was a success. You were in the field of situation comedies. Some people, in describing your show, even used an old
Don't forsake us now, Marv
Say that you're not leaving us, Mary.
What are we going to do on Saturday nights without you? It was difficult enough adjusting to your new time slot midway through the season so we supposed to adjust to no Mary Tyler Moore at all?
Tell us that what we read in the papers and magazines about your show going off the air is utter nonsense. Tell us that you'll be back next fall, just as you've been back the last seven years. Lon and Tom and Murray and Sue Ann and Georgette and Ted.
at least liked). Murray wanted to be something more than just a housemate. He wanted a household face. And you, Mary, want to prove that you
It's going to be tough on all of us, Mary. I hate to say it, but it's all your fault.
forgotten adjective:
"brilliant."
Some of us did not catch on right away. We heard those people talking, but we were a bit
Don't do this to us, Mary. You've got to stav.
But you never lost yours, Mary. Eventually, the rest of us began to catch on. We tuned in, and it didn't take long before tuning in became a habit. You kept friends came to be our friends.
Believe me, Mary, we laughed too.
She was terrific.
We laughed with Rhoda when she was your neighbor, when he told her to secure. Once, while dining on a couple of Twinkies, she turned to you and said, "Wouldn't it be better just lust tap these on my mires?"
WE SYMPATHIZED with you, Mary, when everyone
Stewart Brann Editorial Editor
skeptical. After all, all most television stand-up start off with a bang, but it doesn't take much to lose their sparkle and wit.
None of you ever achieved all that you wanted, but you persevered. And, most importantly, you laughed.
THE DAY-TO-DAY frustration that you and the others experienced were as polygamous as you wanted to produce the best news show in Minneapolis. Sue Ann wanted to be loved (or
could accomplish anything you wanted.
made fun of your parties. And yet we laughed when your parties were spied. Lou got no drunk, Sue Ann insulted her. She was resistant, Georgette had her baby halfway through dinner.
We'll never forget when you went to the funeral of Chuckles the Clown and all of you laughed uncontrollably. We all fear that you would be a funeral. You did it for us. It was humor in its highest form.
Such was the secret of your success, Mary. Your wit came not from incessant screening or contrived plots or dumb gags, but from the humor that lurks in our daily routine.
WHAT WILL WE do without you, Mary?
We'll turn to the TV during your time slot next fall to see what the network has put in to improve the same. There will probably be another Norman Leet socrime or some empty variety show or "Jokipa" Good it is, Mary, you simply can't be replaced.
Well, I guess this is goodbye.
I'm going to miss you, Mary-
we all will. Extend our
farewells to the rest of the crew,
too. And thank you for a wonderful time.
'I think I'm going to cry.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Janiee Clements