Chapter 13 - Chapter 13 Depression and Disillusion Henry...

Chapter 13: Depression and Disillusion
Henry Luce Pervades Publications:
- audience: upper middle class
- anti-communism, believed it was anti-religious, believed it destroyed the business
people like himself
- also hated communism because of what it did to china
- pro fascist
Radio News:
- first transmission: 1929 by Admiral Richard Byrd—symphony orchestra (London
to US)
- radio endangered the success of newspapers—AP led a battle against radio
- 1931- the American Newspaper Publishers Association passed a resolution calling
for control of radio news, and at the 1932 national conventions, radio and
newspapers confronted ea other directly
- AP wouldn’t service the network or sell to broadcasters
- 1933- Sarnoff and some others created a peace treaty with newspapers and wire
services. The agreement required that networks and stations stop gathering news
on their own and limit the times and amount of news they aired.
- The decision of the networks not to gather news was short-lived. 1934,
competition from a new service, Transradio Press, offered news from the wire
agency Havas in France and England’s Reuters as well as domestic news.
- 1934: Federal Communications Commission : charge to allocate licensing “in
the public interest, convenience, or necessity.” Congress granted commercial
users continued dominance of the medium through the federal communications
Act. The commission had no power to censor content, but it did consider a
station’s past performance when renewing a license. Congress feared the possible
pol bias of broadcasters and therefore provided for equal time provisions for
political candidate.