About the Book
This volume offers 16 essays, most original, offering varied broadcast industry views on the role of the public interest in changing business. Editors Powell and Gair, respectively a long-time member of the Northern Illinois University communications faculty and an Illinois broadcaster, provide a brief contextual introduction to each contribution and give the background of each author. The book, according to the preface, is intended to offer `candid and genuine descriptions of what the public-interest obligation actually means to the practitioner [broadcaster]'. . . . The volume is best seen as an indicator of the changing public-interest perceptions of broadcasters amid a rapidly changing marketplace. As such, it is useful for undergraduates interested in today's communications industry. Choice
This volume presents a broad cross-section of views on an issue of central importance to the broadcast industry: Can the broadcast industry serve both the public interest and corporate and stockholder interest? How do the leaders and successful professionals of the broadcast industry interpret and implement the public interest obligation? A cross-section of American broadcasters--from network executives to small market radio station managers, from the president of the National Association of Broadcasters to a former FCC Chairman, from communications attorneys to retired broadcasters--offer personal interpretations of these and other questions on the public interest issue. Among the contributors are Arthur C. Nielsen, the retired Chairman of the A. C. Nielsen Company, which has been the arbiter of American network television success or failure since the advent of the medium; Edward O. Fritts, a small market radio group owner who became President of the National Association of Broadcasters; Newton N. Minow, a communications attorney who is perhaps the best remembered FCC Chairman because of his vast wasteland speech; broadcast pioneer and innovator Ward Quaal; and network insider Gene Jankowski, President, CBS broadcast group.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Introduction
he Broad View
TV's Still a `Vast Wasteland'--But Improving by Newton N. Minow
The Public Interest Concept Transformed: The Trusteeship Model Gives Way to a Marketplace Approach by Richard R. Zaragoza, Richard J. Bodorff, and Jonathan W. Emord
Broadcasters and the Public Interest by Edward O. Fritts
Television Ratings and the Public Interest by Arthur C. Nielsen, Jr.
The Broadcast Industry's First Premise: Serve the Public by Gene F. Jankowski
The Evolving Public Interest by Thomas C. Sawyer
Serving the Public Interest: Voluntarily or by Government Mandate? by Ted L. Snider
Broadcasting and Censorship: Government's Intrusion and Public Interest by William O'Shaughnessy
In the Marketplace
WGN Radio: Public Interest Means Local Identity by Wayne R. Vriesman
Public Interest: Understanding the Small Market by Lindsay Wood Davis
Public Interest Broadcasting in the Small Market by Charles E. Wright
Programming in the Public Interest Means Many Things by Charles F. Harrison
Public Interest: It Starts from the Inside by Jim Oetken
Other Views
Women's Growing Public Role in Broadcasting by Ward L. Quaal
A No Fault Perspective on Public Interest by Joseph W. Ostrow
Not for Profits Access the Airwaves: Addressing the Public's Interest by Edgar A. Vovsi
Some Concluding Thoughts
Bibliography
Index
About the Author :
JON T. POWELL is a Professor of Communication Studies and Instructional Technology at Northern Illinois University, Dekalb.
WALLY GAIR has spent his working life in and around the broadcast media. From his first job as a newswriter at a radio station in Peoria, Illinois, to his past eight years as Executive Director of the Illinois Broadcasters Association.
Review :
"This volume offers 16 essays, most original, offering varied broadcast industry views on the role of the public interest in changing business. Editors Powell and Gair, respectively a long-time member of the Northern Illinois University communications faculty and an Illinois broadcaster, provide a brief contextual introduction to each contribution and give the background of each author. The book, according to the preface, is intended to offer candid and genuine descriptions of what the public-interest obligation actually means to the practitioner [broadcaster]'. . . . The volume is best seen as an indicator of the changing public-interest perceptions of broadcasters amid a rapidly changing interested in today's communications industry."-Choice
?This volume offers 16 essays, most original, offering varied broadcast industry views on the role of the public interest in changing business. Editors Powell and Gair, respectively a long-time member of the Northern Illinois University communications faculty and an Illinois broadcaster, provide a brief contextual introduction to each contribution and give the background of each author. The book, according to the preface, is intended to offer candid and genuine descriptions of what the public-interest obligation actually means to the practitioner [broadcaster]'. . . . The volume is best seen as an indicator of the changing public-interest perceptions of broadcasters amid a rapidly changing interested in today's communications industry.?-Choice
?This volume presents a broad range of views on questions of central importance to the broadcast industry. A cross-section of American broadcasters offers personal interpretations of these and other questions on the public interest issue. The book is divided into three parts. The seven articles in part 1 provide the historical background to and the evolution of public interest, the audience, program ratings the business of broadcasting, federal regulations, and censorship. Part 2 applies the public interest concept to station operations in large, medium, and small markets. The authors discuss what public interest means, e.g., whether it means a strong sense of local identity, and, if so, how that local identity manifests itself in programming. Issues arising from advertising and access to the airwaves are covered in part 3. Included are papers on women's growing public interest role, women's role in broadcasting, no-fault public interest, and access by not-for-profit groups.?-Communication Abstracts
"This volume presents a broad range of views on questions of central importance to the broadcast industry. A cross-section of American broadcasters offers personal interpretations of these and other questions on the public interest issue. The book is divided into three parts. The seven articles in part 1 provide the historical background to and the evolution of public interest, the audience, program ratings the business of broadcasting, federal regulations, and censorship. Part 2 applies the public interest concept to station operations in large, medium, and small markets. The authors discuss what public interest means, e.g., whether it means a strong sense of local identity, and, if so, how that local identity manifests itself in programming. Issues arising from advertising and access to the airwaves are covered in part 3. Included are papers on women's growing public interest role, women's role in broadcasting, no-fault public interest, and access by not-for-profit groups."-Communication Abstracts
