Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

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Education for TV by EDWARD P. McCOY or TV for Education? THE pros and cons of educational programs on coniniertial stations versus educational TV stations have been argued many times and in many places. But one of the real dangers of commercial TV programming of educational subjects has not been mentioned very forcefully. It is a danger almost unavoidable within the framework of commercial broadcasting. And it is likely to carry over to many of the educational TV stations unless intelligent planning and progranniiing are developed, based on sound educational objectives. It is the danger of exploiting education (and educators) for the sake of television instead of exploiting television for the sake of education. tice may fail in terms of educational objectives. As educational TV stations begin to operate in earnest, and as the public becomes voluntarily dependent upon them as educational institutions, there is a very serious obligation for educational TV station managers to accept the responsibility for progranuning their stations not only in terms of what television can do best, but also in terms of what the target audience needs most, educationally. The two may or may not be compatible. Newscasts on commercial TV, for example, theoretically reflect the news as accurately as news coverages in other media do. But, practically speaking. "Educational TV must not avoid subject areas because they are not, or do not at first appear to be, amenable to easy or obvious presentation." .A large network decides to run an educational TV series on "important university research" — a veritable goldmine of material. One might assume that for such a series, the current university research would be surveyed, listed in some order of importance, and selections of specific research projects for programs made in terms of the TV series' avowed objectives: to show the important university research projects in .\merica. Wliat happens, in fact, of course, is that only those research projects tend to be televised which are most amenable to TV treatment or which are most striking when presented visually. Program "glamour" is achieved at some sacrifice to educational objectives. We can have no serious objection to this practice when conniiercial stations are doing their best to create a |)ublic service program and wish, at the same time, to encourage plaudits for their effective use of TV. .As educators, however, we can feel that such a prac Mr. McCoy is a ivriter-direclor with the Inslructionnl Film Research Program, Pennsylxinnia State Uniiiersity. TV newscasts often cause considerably more distortion of the news than do newspaper reports or radio newscasts. Why? Because on TV news emphases are created fortuitously by what news items the station happens to have gotten film coverage on. The New York Times runs the important news on page one, whether or not pictures are available. It allots space and location, generally, on the basis of reasonable judgments of story importance. It reflects a balanced perspective of events. .\ television newscast, on the months and years might cause an unfortunate distortion of perspective. This example serves merely to illustrate the kind of danger that educational TV stations must avoid. While commercial stations operate primarily as an entertainment medium, educational TV stations must operate lo achieve valid educational objectives, to answer defined educational needs. Educational TV, in its programming, must not avoid subject areas because they are not, or do not at first appear to be, amenable to easy or obvious presentation in the medium. This might be justifiable if we could afford lo concern ourselves mainly with individual programs. But we cannot. We must inevitably concern ourselves with .scries programming, and this means definite legitimate local educational objectives in the light of the audience's educational needs. It means creating series of programs aiming at those objectives. It means the creation of a local educational institution whose name is channel 5 or channel 10. It means doing what commercial radio and television have never been willing to chance: the development of real program-to-program continuity, the serving of those |jeople who do not tune in for the occasional big attraction, but who are members, as it were, of the local institution. No educational medium can ever hope to reach a quarter of its effective "We need educational TV 'architects' who concern themselves with functionally designing a whole structure, instead of deciding how to wire the front door-bell." other hand, opportunistically makes the most of those news items which fit the medium best, those items for which film coverage is available, or which ontlie-spot TV cameras can cover. TV newscasts often create the impression that an event per se is impressive, when in fact the only impressive thing is that the station has managed to get a camera to cover the event. If one's only access to news were a television set, this practice multiplied over many potential if every time it presents a program it must start from scratch, assume that its present audience is listening and/or looking now for the first time, does not know what went on here last week and the week before. This has been largely the case in radio and TV, .soap operas notwithstanding. It is the unwillingness to assume audience continuity which in fact invites and encourages aitdience discontinuity. Programs mtide to depend on 280 Educational Screen