○  spiro theodore agnew: television news coverage  ○

swapped some of the greatest military concessions in the history of warfare for an enemy agreement on the shape of the bargaining table. like coleridge’s ancient mariner, mr. harriman seems to be under some heavy compulsion to justify his failures to anyone who will listen. and the networks have shown themselves willing to give him all the air time he desires.

now every american has a right to disagree with the president of the united states and to express publicly that disagreement. but the president of the united states has a right to communicate directly with the people who elected him, and the people of this country have the right to make up their own minds and form their own opinions about a presidential address without having a president’s words and thoughts characterized through the prejudices of hostile critics before they can even be digested.

when winston churchill rallied public opinion to stay the course against hitler’s germany, he didn’t have to contend with a gaggle of commentators raising doubts about whether he was reading public opinion right, or whether britain had the stamina to see the war through. when president kennedy rallied the nation in the cuban missile crisis, his address to the people was not chewed over by a roundtable of critics who disparaged the course of action he’d asked america to follow.

the purpose of my remarks tonight is to focus your attention on this little group of men who not only enjoy a right of instant rebuttal to every presidential address, but, more importantly, wield a free hand in selecting, presenting, and interpreting the great issues in our nation. first, let’s define that power.

at least 40 million americans every night, it’s estimated, watch the network news. seven million of them view a.b.c., the remainder being divided

上一页  [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]  ... 下一页  >>