NAEB Newsletter (May 1952)

- 6 - Paul A. Walker Made Honorary Life Member FCC Chairman Paul A. Walker was made an honorary life member of NAEB. At the NAEB- sponsored luncheon Vice-President Ausmus presented the Commissioner with a suitably inscribed scroll. Next Board Meeting in Battle Creek The next meeting of the Board of Directors will be held May 23 and 2b in Battle Creek, Michigan, the headquarters of the Kellogg Foundation, at which a review of the first year of the Kellogg project will be the main order of business. OTHER IERT SESSIONS REVIEWED Hunter Says Educators'■ Job Is Program Improvement Improvement of television programming "will probably have to be the major responsi¬ bility of the educator and the educational broadcaster," Armand L. Hunter of Michigan State College told the opening general session of the Institute. Hunter, who is director of television development at Michigan State, took part in a symposium on the improvement of TV programming. The job will fall to the educator, he said, "because the industry has certain philo¬ sophical and economic obstacles in its path, the Commission has no practical method of enforcing it, and the public has no articulate means of demanding it." Hunter noted a "fundamental philosophical conflict and opposition" within the indus¬ try, which he said makes it "extremely difficult for much progress to be made." This conflict, he believes, involved proponents, of low-level programming and "the men of different conviction, who hold to higher standards." "... I would personally en¬ courage every step taken by the industry to improve standards and programming, and urge the active and vocal support of those men ’fighting on the side of the angels,'" he said. "But I'm still of the opinion that the battle will be long and hard, and that the educators as outside forces are the only ones who can perhaps swing the support and weight needed to help the industry win the fight and eventually achieve the common objective of program improvement." The job should be the responsibility of the educator. Hunter said, "because he is the instrument through which society preserves and transmits its intellectual and cul¬ tural heritage." He listed two contributions which the educator can make toward im¬ provement of programming -- the determination of needs and standards through qualita¬ tive research, and the realization of these standards through creative experimenta¬ tion in program content and form. Listener-Viewer Group Functions Described There is "a great need" for activity of listener-viewer associations in promoting higher standards for radio and television programming, Mrs. Clara S. Logan, president of the National Association for Better Radio and Television, stated at another session.. Recent criticisms of television's portrayal of violence and lawlessness "are similar to those we have been hearing for years about children's radio programs," she ob¬ served, and added that they "point up the developing pattern of the similarity be¬ tween television and radio." Mrs. Logan said that a major function of listener- viewer groups should be to inform the public that "every citizen of the United States owns an interest in the broadcast channels, and that the broadcasters are licensed to use these channels through laws which give us the power and right to demand higher standards of radio and television programs."