Page 100 - Communication and Citizenship Journalism and the Public Sphere

SELLING CONSENT 89

Broadcasting in effect is the American Ministry of Culture. Whatever
the particular form, radio and particularly television programming are
the premier vehicles for American mass culture. Increasingly, this mass
culture is not just a matrix for sports and entertainment; it has become
the arena for much of politics and religion. Whereas there are legitimate
concerns for people becoming passive couch potatoes who no longer go
to church or vote, there can also be concern for people who all too
eagerly follow calls to action and advice on how to care for their health
from those who may not be qualified to lead or advise.

NOTES

1 The Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio, for instance,
together account for less than 5 per cent of the national audience. And, in
so far as they depend on corporate underwriting for many programs (the
respected McNeil-Lehrer News Hour is underwritten by the American
natural gas industry, for instance), they are subject to much the same
constraints.
2 This trend is gloatingly, but accurately, reported year after year in the
annual Roper surveys, Public Attitudes Toward Television, commissioned
by the Television Information Office, the public relations and research
arm of the commercial television industry in America.
3 National Association of Broadcasters, Broadcasters Public Service
Activities, Washington, DC: NAB Research and Planning, 1988.
4 John M.Phelan, ‘Communing in isolation’, Critical Studies in Mass
Communication, vol. 5 (September 1988), pp. 347–51.
5 Edward S.Herman and Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent: The
Political Economy of the Mass Media, New York: Pantheon, 1988.
6 Sydney W.Head and Christopher H.Sterling, Broadcasting in America,
4th edn, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982, pp. 192ff. and passim. Cf. also
Harry F.Waters, ‘The future of television’, Newsweek, 17 October 1988,
pp. 84ff.
7 All the networks and Public Broadcasting, for instance, use programming
segments produced by local affiliates or member stations. Over 70 per
cent of Group W Community Campaigns, which are sold in dozens of
markets outside the group, are produced by stations. Its earlier PM
Magazine uses features of a co-op arrangement, sharing station-produced
segments (among other components).
8 Waters, op. cit.
9 Interview with Mr Kennen Williams, General Sales Manager, and Ms
Carol Tweedle, Marketing Development Manager, at KPIX offices and
studios, 855 Battery Street, San Francisco, 18 July 1988.