TV for the Generations

For this assignment I interviewed my dad, a fifty seven year old man; and a eighty four year old woman, who is a close friend.  Both are senior enough to have witnessed the evolution of television and great changes in the way we receive our news.  As I thought may be the case, both recalled war coverage vividly when asked of their memories of getting news from TV.  What I found most interesting were the stark differences between the coverage of World War II and the coverage of the Vietnam War as described by my friend.  During WWII she received most of her news through the newspaper and radio.  Videos were not yet available and images presented to the American public were not of gruesome or cruel wartime acts.  The media coverage painted a pretty picture that seemed to engender support for the war.  In contrast, both interviewees remember television coverage of the Vietnam War.  It was still rather new, and my father was still young; but he would not forget the images or the messages.  This was not the same kind of war, and neither was the media coverage.

Both remember Martin Luther King's speeches and assassination, President Kennedy's assassination, and Richard Nixon's Watergate Scandal; while they both remember television coverage of all these events, they both claim to get more of their news--even today--through newspaper.  My dad watches the news on television, but doesn't get his news from a particular TV station; he also reads the daily newspaper in our hometown and browses the internet for news as well.  My friend watches FOX news primarily--which is in line with her conservative beliefs--but also listens to public radio and reads the newspaper daily.

My dad seemed frustrated with the lack of truly neutral news outlets; he feels that every source of news is slanted too far to the left or too far to the right, and I tend to agree with him.  In many instances, it seems like the job of a news outlet should be solely to offer an accurate report of what occurred in the events considered news.  Events only happen in one way, but we so often receive conflicting reports and messages about the same occurrences.  This is partly why I am interested in this course, I'd like to learn how to read the menu; because I am having trouble finding something for my palette.  The news outlets all seem so biased, I just wish there was more of a selection in the middle ground.