Chapter 9: Television: Broadcast and Beyond
Summary and Learning Objectives
Television was developed in the 1920s and 1930s by independent inventor Philo T. Farnsworth
and RCA engineer Vladimir Zworykin. Commercial broadcasting began in the United States in
1939, but its development was put on hold by the outbreak of World War II. By the early 1950s,
television was established as the dominant broadcast medium. Color television broadcasts came
into widespread use in the 1960s.
Although primitive forms of cable television existed in 1948, cable did not become a significant
medium until the early 1980s when satellite distribution of channels became common. Among
the early cable channels were a number of networks created by Ted Turner. Viewers gained
access to additional choices in the form of VCRs and direct broadcast satellite service.
Television broadcasting has switched from analog signals to multiple digital formats, and VCRs
have almost completely been replaced by DVRs, DVDs, video on demand, and streaming
technology.
Television networks have been criticized for failing to include women and minorities in their
programming, but cable channels have delivered more programming that addresses diverse
interests. Networks have also been criticized for carrying too much violent and sexually explicit
programming. But television has been praised for breaking down geographic and social barriers.
Broadcast television is currently going through a cycle in which “indecent” content is being
suppressed by the government.
Television is changing rapidly, with audience members getting many new options to control how
and when they receive programming. With VCRs, DVRs, interactive television, and broadband
video, viewers can choose what they watch and when they watch it. They are also able to interact
with the programming through online and mobile resources.
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:
1. Discuss the development of television from its invention to HDTV today.
2. Explain how cable/satellite television, recorders such as VCRs and DVRs, and the adoption of
digital television have transformed the television industry.
3. Discuss the issue of racial and ethnic diversity on television.
4. Identify three key reasons why viewers watch television.
5. Discuss the problem of broadcast decency, using examples.
6. Explain how streaming video services are changing TV in the 21st century.
Review Questions
1. How has Sinclair Broadcast Group been generating controversy?
2. How did Ted Turner transform cable television?
3. What does media journalist Ken Auletta mean by “an earthquake in slow motion”? How is
that earthquake still going on today?
4. How did Janet Jackson’s 2004 Super Bowl appearance transform our standards for decency
on broadcast television?
5. How have technological changes transformed how we think of “watching television”?
Media Literacy Exercises
The Nielsen Ratings
The television industry is obsessed with ratings, but how do we really know who is Number One?
The Nielsen ratings are the bible of the industry. How does the Nielsen Media Research Company
measure audiences? How many homes are sampled? What is the difference between a people meter
and a diary? To answer these questions, visit Nielsen Media Research at www.nielsenmedia.com.
And here is a great explanation of Nielsen Ratings given by puppets. (Seriously . . . )
http://www.ralphehanson.com/2012/04/10/link-ch-9-puppets-explain-nielsen-ratings/
Sense of Place
In his book, No Sense of Place, Joshua Meyrowitz argues that television serves as a window on the
world, exposing us to people who live in different places and have different lifestyles from ours. For
this exercise, reread the Test Your Media Literacy on No Sense of Place. Then watch an evening of
prime time television from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. (or 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., depending on your
time zone). Write down any situations you are being exposed to that you would not have normally
experienced without television. Then write an essay (350–500 words) summarizing your findings.
Notes: One of Meyrowitz’s central theses is that television, and electronic media in general, tend to
cut across boundaries, while print media tend to segregate audiences into discrete groups. For
example, magazines tend to be targeted at particular demographic groups, but television tends to
be viewed by a broad, general audience. So when a company advertises contraceptives through
Cosmopolitan or Maxim, they will excite little controversy as the audience is likely to be sexually
active young men and women. But when those same advertising messages are run on television in
the afternoon they become problematic when viewed by young people and children, perhaps
together with their parents. It’s not that there is something wrong with the information, only that
we are not used to being exposed to these messages in mixed groups.
You may also want to read this interview with Joshua Meyrowitz:
http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/altered-states-how-television-changes-childhood
Suggested Readings
• Auletta, K. (1991). Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way. New York: Random
House. and Auletta, K. (1998). The Highwaymen. San Diego: Harcourt Brace. Through these two
books, journalist Ken Auletta looks at the huge transformations that took place in television
during the 1980s and 1990s.
• Barnouw, E. (1990). Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television (2nd Rev. ed.). New
York: Oxford University Press. An interesting look at the changing role of television in American
life.
• Meyrowitz, J. (1985). No Sense of Place. New York: Oxford University Press. An examination of
how television through its very existence changes the world we live in.
• All of the Chapter 9 links posted to my RalphEHanson.com blog at
http://www.ralphehanson.com/category/chapter-9/
Lecture Builders
Walter Cronkite
Hear former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite talk about how network television developed in this C-
SPAN Booknotes interview.
• https://www.c-span.org/video/?81241-1/reporters-life
Notes: The name of Walter Cronkite may not ring any bells for your students, most of whom were
born after he left the anchor desk at CBS. One of the best uses for this link and for Cronkite’s book, A
Reporter’s Life is to bring to life the early days of television news. In the years prior to his death in
2009, Cronkite was writing a newspaper column and producing historical pieces for NPR. The most
relevant of these is one from 2003 about the skyjackings of September 1970 that were the first use
of airplane hijackings as a tool of terrorism.
• http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1426387
Univision
• Discover what’s showing tonight on America’s most popular Spanish-language network.
www.univision.com
Notes: If you don’t live in a community with a substantial Spanish-speaking population, your
students may not realize the pervasiveness of Spanish media in the United States. Both Univision
and the NBC Universal-owned Telemundo provide broadcast television programming in Spanish
and can sometimes be the top-rated channel in their markets.
You can see more about Telemundo (if you read Spanish) at
www.telemundo.com/
Slide Hints: The Univision and Telemundo websites are good sources of Spanish-language web ads.
Media Activities
Classroom Discussion: Should a New York Times writer have called Shonda Rhimes an “angry
Black woman”?
Television producer/writer Shonda Rhimes is famous for her shows like Grey’s Anatomy,
Scandal, and How to Get Away With Murder.
• http://www.ralphehanson.com/2014/10/17/link-ch-9-ny-times-draws-controversy–
calling-shonda-rhimes-an-angry-black-woman/
A story about Rhimes in the New York Times started out provocatively:
• http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/arts/television/viola-davis-plays-shonda-rhimess-
latest-tough-heroine.html?_r=0
When Shonda Rhimes writes her autobiography, it should be called “How to Get Away With
Being an Angry Black Woman.”
That opening line, and a story that went on to note that actress Viola Davis, who stars in Rhimes’ TV
series How To Get Away With Murder, is “older, darker skinned and less classically beautiful” than
Olivia Washington, who stars in another Rhimes show, Scandal. A pair of lengthy articles from the
New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan quotes extensively from reader criticism of the
article that she says is righty deserved. Read the article and the two responses from the public
editor so you can form your own opinion.
Questions: Does the writer, a White male, treat Rhimes the same way he would have treated a
White male? What things are the critics sensitive about? How do you feel about how the author
defends himself?
Classroom Debate—Television violence
What do you think of the Mean World Syndrome? How do you think you are influenced by
television violence? What do you think the influence is on others?
Notes: You will need to work to keep students on track with this discussion because they will likely
move off into the direct effects model. It might be profitable to have students review Chapters 1 and
2 on the nature of media effects and the dimensions of media literacy. Understanding George
Gerbner’s notion of the Mean World Syndrome (MWS) calls for a fairly high level of media literacy.
The basic premises of the MWS are as follows:
Because of televised violence, heavy television viewers are more likely to:
• Overestimate their chances of experiencing violence,
• Believe that their neighborhoods are unsafe,
• State that fear of crime is a very serious personal problem, and
• Assume that the crime rate is rising, regardless of the actual crime rate.
Gerbner writes that the real harm of violent television is not copycat behavior, but rather the
following:
Gerbner was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1919, but he left his home for the United States in
1939 to escape fascism. Upon arrival in the United States, he served in the U.S. Army to fight the
Nazis. It would appear that at the heart of Gerbner’s concerns about television violence was the
possibility that it could lead to a rise of fascism.
Amusing Ourselves to Death—Remembering Neil Postman
