Down the tube
Subtitle: an inside account of the failure of American television
By: William F. Baker and George Dessart.
Contributors: Dessart, George.
Publisher: BasicBooks; Basic Books
Published: 1998
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 332
Subjects: Television broadcasting -- Social aspects -- United States; Television broadcasting -- Economic aspects -- United States
Description: "In the beginning, commercial television was filled with promise. Offering convenient entertainment 'round the clock and easy access to the latest news and information, it became the nation's hearth, the reliable medium whenever anything out of the ordinary came along." "Today, the airwaves are inundated by drivel that panders to the audience's most base interests. Explaining that the United States - almost alone among the nations of the world - surrendered virtually the entire command of its public airwaves to the commercial sector. Down the Tube reveals that television's primary purpose has nothing to do with quality programming. Its main concern is to deliver certain audiences or demographic groups (e.g., women ages 18-49) to advertisers." "How did this happen? What went wrong? Is it too late?" "Drawing on years of first-hand experience, William F. Baker and George Dessart provide answers to these questions with new and astonishing insights and present questions of their own, covering such topics as: the most popular programs in the world and why they don't come from American television; seventy-five years of misregulation and how that has affected our news; the future entertainment capital of the western hemisphere: why it won't be in New York or Hollywood; how and why Generation X will improve children's programming; the surprising resilience of public television; and what you, your family, and friends can do to make television live up to its promise."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-311) and index.
Table of contents: title: What hath mammon wrought? the illusions of marketplace and regulation; title: The road not taken: the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC); title: Eyeballs for sale: the best-kept secret in television; title: The scarcity of abundance: more networks, more stations, more cable, but not more programs; title: Where the action is: television news; title: Kinderfeindlichkeit: the plight of children and children's television; title: World television: the privatization of the global village; title: The underfunded afterthought: public television; title: The road ahead.