Newton N. Minow, who as Federal Communications Commission chief in the early 1960s famously proclaimed that network television was a “vast wasteland,” died Saturday. He was 97.
Minow, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, died Saturday at home, surrounded by loved ones, said his daughter, Nell Minow.Though Minow remained in the FCC post just two years, he left a permanent stamp on the broadcasting industry through government steps to foster satellite communications, the passage of a law mandating UHF reception on TV sets and his outspoken advocacy for quality in television.
Minow laid down his famous challenge to TV executives on May 9, 1961, in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, urging them to sit down and watch their station for a full day, “without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you.” The speech caused a sensation. “Vast wasteland” became a catch phrase. Jimmy Durante opened an NBC special by saying, “Da next hour will be dedicated to upliftin’ da quality of television. … At least, Newt, we’re tryin’.”
For the criticism over his speech, Minow said he didn’t support censorship, preferring exhortation and measures to broaden public choices. But he also said a broadcasting license was “an enormous gift” from the government that brought with it a responsibility to the public. Children’s programming was a particular interest of Minow, a father of three, who told broadcasters the few good children’s shows were “drowned out in the massive doses of cartoons, violence and more violence. … Search your consciences and see if you cannot offer more to your young beneficiaries whose future you guide so many hours each and every day.”
“Minow was appalled by … the whole charade of having to image-make on television,” said Craig Allen, a mass communications professor at Arizona State University who wrote a 2001 book about Minow.
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Newton Minow, FCC chairman who assailed ‘vast wasteland’ of TV, dies at 97Breaking news: Newton N. Minow, the Federal Communications Commission chairman who in 1961 memorably assailed TV as a “vast wasteland” and had a towering impact on broadcasting by helping shape public television, died at his home in Chicago. He was 97.
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Ex-FCC chief, public TV advocate Newton Minow dead at 97Former Federal Communications Commission head Newton Minow, who famously described network TV as a “vast wasteland,” has died. Minow's daughter, Nell Minow, confirmed that her father died Saturday at home in Chicago, surrounded by loved ones. Although the Chicago attorney held his FCC post for just two years in the early 1960s, Minow left a lasting stamp on the industry — promoting public television and working to televise presidential campaign debates. He was 97.
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Ex-FCC chief, public TV advocate Newton Minow dead at 97Former Federal Communications Commission head Newton Minow, who famously described network TV as a “vast wasteland,” has died
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