Of Messages and Media: Communicating in the Electronic Age

Abstract

This study arises amidst the controversy not to fasten itself to either extreme of the debate, but to consider, quietly and pensively, television's place in man's ongoing struggle to communicate with his fellow-men. What, quite seriously, has the medium contributed to our system of communication? Certain confines are inherent in this study. In it, I examine television news, drawing my facts from what I have judged to be sound sources and from my practical experience in the news room of WNEW-TV (metromedia broadcasting) in New York City. Because my experience was in a local, unaffiliated station, my observations are limited by the nature of such an operation. However, my research has assured me that most of the conclusions I drew from my VNEW experience can serve as generalizations for all news operations: network, local, and national.