The Wasteland Speech was a speech given by Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) chairman Newton N. Minow to the convention of the National
Association of Broadcasters on 9th May
1961. The speech was Minow's first major speech after he was appointed chairman
of the FCC by President John F Kennedy. In the speech, Minow referred to
American commercial television programming as a "vast wasteland" and
advocated for programming in the public interest.
"When
television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers
— nothing is better.
But
when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite each of you to sit down in
front of your own television set when your station goes on the air and stay
there, for a day, without a book, without a magazine, without a newspaper,
without a profit and loss sheet or a rating book to distract you. Keep your
eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what
you will observe is a vast wasteland.
You
will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally
unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder,
western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and
cartoons. And endlessly commercials — many screaming, cajoling, and offending.
And most of all, boredom. True, you'll see a few things you will enjoy. But
they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to
try it."
This speech is properly
titled "Television and the Public Interest". It was a landmark speech
for the medium of television, at a time when there were only three networks in
the United States and when the realm of television was much less vast than it
is today.
Minow often remarks
that the two words best remembered from the speech are "vast
wasteland," but the two words he wishes would be remembered are
"public interest
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