“It may be the most famous broadside launched by a government official in American history:
“Sixty years ago this Sunday, Newton N. Minow invited the television executives gathered in Washington for his first official speech as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission to spend a day watching their own broadcasts.
“‘Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off,’ he said. ‘I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.’ . . .
“In the six decades since Minow’s speech to the National Assn. of Broadcasters, the landscape has become vaster, its average quality ever diminished.”
—Michael Hiltzik, columnist, “Six decades ago, Newton Minow called TV a ‘vast wasteland.’ It’s even vaster today,” Los Angeles Times, May 6, 2021. Note: Newton Minow, now 95, is still alive and kickin’.
• Editorial Comment: Is ‘vaster’ even a word?
The May issue of Senior News is out. After a Long Year, Silver Linings. Read all about it.
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