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Televisions Steals the Show!
Illustration Exhibit (3)
Title: Hurry up, Mother! Here come the elephants! [color advertisement; tear sheet]. Advertiser: General Electric Company. Date of Publication: Circa 1950. Source: N. W. Ayer Advertising Agency Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution (Click on picture to be directed to the site)
Radio’s success was largely due to the fact that there was no other form of media to compete with it, until the introduction of the television.[1] Television became popularized in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s with more Americans watching television during prime time than ever. Some famous radio programs were even made into television shows! Television’s popularity grew because of the visual component that was missing from the radio. This visual component provided another dimension of entertainment for the American people that beat the radio by a landslide. This is something the television advertisement above projected to the American public in their description ensuring that “every one will be able to enjoy the thrill of home television.”
[1] [Author Removed at Request of Original Publisher], “Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication,” 7.2 Evolution of Radio Broadcasting | Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication, March 22, 2016, section goes here, accessed April 21, 2017, http://open.lib.umn.edu/mediaandculture/chapter/7-2-evolution-of-radio-broadcasting/.
Illustration Exhibit (4)
The Vietnam War- The Television War/ The War at Home
This Youtube clip is from a documentary called “The Dawn of the Eye: The History of Film and TV News.” Publisher: Canadian Broadcasting Company and BBS in association with the History Channel. Date published: 1997. For more information about this documentary, click here.
While FDR used the radio to bring hope to the American people during the Great Depression and WWII, the television was seen as the enemy of the government during the Vietnam War because of the graphic, horrific images of war the American people were being shown. It was easy for the President and government to censor what was communicated to the American people using the radio, but once a visual component was available to the public, the truth was seen through the public’s very own eyes. The video above states that by this time, more Americans were getting their news from televisions than from newspapers, something that concerned the White House greatly because of its effects on foreign policy. On August 5, 1965, a CBS reporter was invited to Vietnam to film a search and destroy mission, but this turned out to be detrimental to the goal of the film since instead of bringing support for the war, Americans antagonized it because of the horrible truths they were exposed to through television. Despite this, like the radio, the television was successful in informing American homes of war news, bringing families together to watch updates either opposing or supporting the Vietnam War.