Description
In the beginning, television was filled with promise. Offering convenient entertainment and easy access to the latest news and information, it was a truly democratic medium that was supposed to enrich the lives of its citizens. Yet today, the airwaves are inundated by a flood of drivel that panders to the audience's most base interests. How did this happen? What went wrong? Down the Tube answers these questions. Explaining that the United States, almost alone among the nations of the world, surrendered virtually the entire command of its public airwaves into the hands of the commercial sector, it reveals that television's primary purpose has nothing to do with producing quality programs. Its main concern is to package and deliver identifiable demographic groups (e.g., women 18-49) to their advertisers. Written by insiders who have played on both sides of the programming game, Down the Tube is both a sweeping examination of the history of television and an important indictment of the mercenary mentality that taints the most influential and powerful medium in the world.
