U. S. Radio (Oct 1957-Dec 1958)
Reading and Downloading:
Record Details:
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!
Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.
Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.
View OCR Text
We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.
Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.
ON TAKING SIDES
"A;* a iirlMork wv <!<> not takr an editorial puHition. Howrxrr. «'«>in|M't«'nt n«•>^snl«'n and coninu-ntatorH ar«' rntillrd to exprcps an opinion as lon<; as it is lalndt-d as surli. W »• feel a man is coni|ietent who (1) is trained in the phase of the news with Mliirli lir is d«-alin<i:. (2) is in a position to know the farts of the situation, and (3) lahels his pctsition/*
Bill McAndrew,
NSC director of news.
"We at Mutual compare ourselves to the major wire services and in particular to their feature adjuncts. W «' limit our edil«>rial acti\ities to the coninienlators we place on our daily hr<»adcast schedule, who are men. clearly laheled as editorialists, and 4-an he scheduleil or rejected from their schedules h} our aliiliates. Phe ov>n4>rs and 4»perators of these stations have the final word in what they will not have transmitted over their facilitit's."
Norman Boer,
MBS director of news and special evonts.
community c;iii find iisc II in ilic Iiot scat' with the public."
"Advcniscrs have points ol \ lew, too," WW IH. Tampa, points out. "To disagree wiili them and have a spot next to the point ol view they don't like, iisiiallv kilK ofl the golden egg." .\nd Iroin WlUi.K, Pitisfield, III.: "It's a little more diHi(idt to editorialize in a small market l<»i icasons with uliidi anyone who lias lived in a small town is tliorougliK limiliiii "
Shortage of Commentators
A gie.il niajoiilv ol the stations Irankly adnnis that one ol the reasons lor not airing ediloiials is the l.uk ol highh tiained < onnnenlalors. "Kdiioriali/ing demands s< ope and insight lar beyond regnlai news reporters" (WQIW. Moline, III.). "Kdiioriali/ing recpiires a great deal ol lime and prepaiation not available to SMI. ill iniikct si.iiions with limile.l si.ilh ' ( \\ I l\\ . I.iiificld. III.).
Rl'DN. I'ampa. lex.: \ small opci.it ion such :is ours does not have personnel lor editorializing. An edi(ori.d nuist be done bv authoritv. Ibis takes ieseai(li and e\|)erien( e." K' II . Ilitimi.i. I .1 "W (• woik Willi
.1 sniill but (ompetent staff, and since iliuies are doubled there is no time for preparation ot editorial type news."
Of course, theie are the stations which just don't believe in editorializing. WDV'A, Danville, Va., says, 'AV'e present the facts of the news; our job as a medium is to report, not to attempt to inlluence opinions." And KRM(;. liilsa. which has had "acherse reaction fiom the public " to editorials, feels that people "want the news reported factually. "
"Our job," WMI'S. Clhattanooga. agrees, "is enieilaimnent. inlormatioii and education— not opinionated c;! slanted views on any subject. It is the individual's right to make up his own mind." WARM. Sciaiiton. concuis: "We ojjei.iie lor the pur pose of disseminating news — not intciprcting it. Our lisiencis prefer to di.iw tlicii own (onclusions, and we piclc'i not lo iii.ikc up llic'ii minds loi lliciii."
Helpful to Community
r>ul do i.ulio c (litoi i.ils "lu.ike up their minds lor them?" Not necess.niK. s,i\ ihc si;itions that ha\e liiccl lluiii In 1.1(1, the discussion ( .mscd b\ ilic piogi.ims. accoidiiig
to ^V|()H. Hammond, Ind., "is definitely hel|)ful for community life." "The public likes nothing better," says K.I)VL, Salt Lake Caiy, "than to call or write a station, either objecting or lauding recent broadcasts. .\ slate of ;ipathv generally exists here— until we bit home on a partic ulai subject."
In more than eight years of editorializing. W.W'Z. New Haven, has "accpiiicd a deeplv rooted reputation as the conscience ol the cc^miiiunitx . 111(1 IS the s|)arkplug to get tilings done." D.inicl W. Kops inloimed an .\AR I li conference in Schenectady, N. V., last month.
"When we began editorializing two \c.iis .igo." liin Llliot ol WC.l K. Akron, told i . s. radhi. "we had ;m excellent re;iction Irom the |)ul)li(. :illhough wc h.td thought we'd be p;tiinecl. We c\en endorse c .indid.itc s and issues in local and state elections wiiboui .in\ scpiawk ivom the p.ntics. rh.ils prob.ibly bcc.iuse wc screen c.indid.ites and i-sucs on their individu.d merits l.cfoic checking the party lal)cl."
Here arc some other typical reactions to r;idio cditoi i;ilizing: KPQ. Wen. itc lice. W.ish.: "Ihc public, thinks mole ol iis li pioxis ili.u we
L'H
I'.S. /i inio
NoMiiiluT 1957