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11 -Text
Robert W. Sarnoff
Yet it is curious that while an end to this restriction is being discussed, questions are being raised about placing new limitations upon broadcasting in the reporting of elections. Tele¬ vision’s new journalistic techniques have sped the collection of election returns, and its use of computers has sped their interpre¬ tation, to a point where some thoughtful observers are concerned that television might influence a national election in the course of reporting it. Such observers fear these swift televised reports will set up a bandwagon psychology in the West, while millions of voters are still going to the polls.
Even assuming such a problem may exist or develop, I am frankly at a loss to imagine a practical solution acceptable to a democratic people. To suppress or curtail journalistic freedom is an extreme measure that we tolerate temporarily in time of war or when the national security is at stake. It seems unthinkable to me, how¬ ever, that we can practice suppression out of what, in the last analysis, is the unflattering speculation that millions of free Americans will be rendered incapable of voting their individual convictions .
Another area in which the impact of our medium is invoked to justify official restraint on programs is the beckoning new world of international television. This invariably relies on the need to protect the national image; it overlooks the elementary point that nothing could damage America’s image more quickly than any effort to tamper with free expression. One of the heartening developments of 1962 has been the recognition of this danger by responsible officials and the disavowal of any intention of imposing thought control on American programming for export.
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