Newton N. Minow
FCC Chairman 1961–63, lawyer, author, activist on behalf of quality television, organizer of Presidential debates.
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When television is good, nothing--not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers--nothing is better.
But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you--and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.
What do we mean by "the public interest?" Some say the public interest is merely what interests the public. I disagree.
We need imagination in programming, not sterility; creativity, not imitation; experimentation, not conformity; excellence, not mediocrity. Television is filled with creative, imaginative people. You must strive to set them free.
Never have so few owed so much to so many.
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