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Press And The People, The: An Inquiry Into The Work Of The American Press In Informing The American People; Television News Commentator, The

Part of Press and the People.

01/24/1959

Louis Lyons moderates a discussion between Eric Sevareid, Chief Washington Correspondent, CBS News; Martin Agronsky, Commentator, NBC News. _-_ _-_ Quote from Eric Sevareid “The bigger our information media, the less courage and freedom of expression they allow. Bigness means weakness”. _-_ _-_ Quote from Martin Agronsky “The special story, the report in depth, becomes more and more difficult to keep on the air because of the tremendous rising costs of TV production”. _-_ _-_ They discuss the state of television broadcasting in America in the late 1950’s - networks are more likely to fund the types of programs that are cheaper to produce, and are less likely to produce content with controversial topics because of regional sensitivities and sponsor concerns; networks are guided entirely by return on investment; the effect of politicians bringing pressure to bear on sponsors to limit and hamper broadcast of material; the differences between radio, television and newspaper coverage of events.


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Series
Press And The People, The: An Inquiry Into The Work Of The American Press In Informing The American People
Program
Television News Commentator, The
Program Number

7

Series Description

Louis Lyons hosts this series of programs that discuss the problems and performance of the American Press in reporting leading questions of the day. Series release date: 1958

Program Description

Louis Lyons moderates a discussion between Eric Sevareid, Chief Washington Correspondent, CBS News; Martin Agronsky, Commentator, NBC News.

Quote from Eric Sevareid “The bigger our information media, the less courage and freedom of expression they allow. Bigness means weakness”.

Quote from Martin Agronsky “The special story, the report in depth, becomes more and more difficult to keep on the air because of the tremendous rising costs of TV production”.

They discuss the state of television broadcasting in America in the late 1950’s - networks are more likely to fund the types of programs that are cheaper to produce, and are less likely to produce content with controversial topics because of regional sensitivities and sponsor concerns; networks are guided entirely by return on investment; the effect of politicians bringing pressure to bear on sponsors to limit and hamper broadcast of material; the differences between radio, television and newspaper coverage of events.

Keywords: Television broadcasting Media and society History Journalism American society and culture Television broadcasting of news

Subject heading: Historical television programs

Proper names: Lyons, Louis Martin, 1897- Sevareid, Eric, 1912-1992 Agronsky, Martin Lyford, Joseph Brydon, Loyd

Asset Type

Broadcast program

Media Type

Video

Subjects
American society and culture
Journalism
Historical television programs
Television broadcasting
Media and society
Television broadcasting of news
History
Locations
Boston, MA
Genres
Talk Show
Topics
Public Affairs
Contributors
Lyford, Joseph (Producer)
Lyons, Louis Martin, 1897- (Presenter)
Brydon, Loyd (Director)
Sevareid, Eric, 1912-1992 (Guest)
Agronsky, Martin (Guest)
Citation
Chicago: “Press And The People, The: An Inquiry Into The Work Of The American Press In Informing The American People; Television News Commentator, The,” 01/24/1959, GBH Archives, accessed October 14, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_2813BB34FCEA48DAA6A8BF2EDEF7707D.
MLA: “Press And The People, The: An Inquiry Into The Work Of The American Press In Informing The American People; Television News Commentator, The.” 01/24/1959. GBH Archives. Web. October 14, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_2813BB34FCEA48DAA6A8BF2EDEF7707D>.
APA: Press And The People, The: An Inquiry Into The Work Of The American Press In Informing The American People; Television News Commentator, The. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_2813BB34FCEA48DAA6A8BF2EDEF7707D
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