Passage One
When the 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 you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, or anything else to distract you and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland. You will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience-participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, Mayhem, more violence, sadism, murder, Western badmen, Western goodmen, private eyes, Gangsters, still more violence, and cartoons. And endlessly, commercials that stream and cajole and offend. And most of all, boredom. True, you will see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, try it.
Is there no room on television to teach, to inform, to uplift, to stretch, to enlarge the capacities of our children Is there no room for programs to deepen the children’s understanding of children in other lands Is there no room for a children’s news show explaining something about the world for them at their level of understanding Is there no room for reading the great literature of the past, teaching them the great traditions of freedom There are some fine children’s shows, but they are drowned out in the massive doses of cartoons, violence, and more violence. Must these be your trademarks Search your conscience and see whether yon cannot offer more to your young beneficiaries whose future you guard so many hours each and every day.
There are many people in this great country, and you must serve all of us. You will get no argument from me if you say that, given a choice between a Western and a symphony, more people will watch the Western. I like Westerns and private eyes, too—but a steady diet for the whole country is obviously not in the public interest. We all know that people would more often prefer to be entertained than stimulated or informed. But your obligations are not satisfied if you look only to popularity as a test of what to broadcast. Yon are not only in show business: you are free to communicate ideas as well as to give relaxation. You must provide a wide range of choices, more diversity, more alternatives. It is not enough to cater to the nation’s whims—you must also serve the nation’s needs. The people own the air. They own it as much in prime evening time as they do at six o’clock in the morning. For every hour that the people give you—you own them something. I intend to see that your debt is paid with service.
The author believes that his tastes are （）.
A．better than most people’s
B．better than those of the television industry
C．the same as most people
D．better than the average children
