The television sponsor has become semi-mythical. He is remote and
unseen, but omnipresent. Dramas, football games, and press
conferences pause for a "word" from him. He "makes possible"
concerts and public affairs broadcasts. His "underwriting grants"
brings the viewer music festivals and classic films. Interviews
with visiting statesmen are interrupted for him, to continue "in a
moment."
Sponsorship is basic to American television. Even noncommercial
television looks to it for survival. A vast industry has grown up
around the needs and wishes of sponsors. Television's program
formulas, business practices, and ratings have all evolved in ways
to satisfy sponsor requirements. Indeed, he has become a potentate
of our time.
"The Sponsor" is divided into three parts. In "Rise," Barnouw
sketches the rise of the sponsor, in both radio and television, to
his present state of eminence. In "Domain," the sponsor's pervasive
impact on television programming is examined, with an emphasis on
network television, the primary arena of the industry. And in
"Prospect," Barnouw assesses what such dominance has meant for
American society, mores, and institutions--and what it may mean for
our future. This is a gripping volume about power, how it not only
influences programming itself, but how it defines for the average
person what is good, great, and desirable.
"I haven't read a more stimulating and enlightening book about
television. My mind still burns under its influence."--Bill Moyers
" "The Sponsor"] is the most incisive and well-written study to
date of the economic structure and ideological impact of modern
broadcasting."--"The Nation"
"The best critique of television since Newton Minow's wasteland'
blast of the early 1960s."--"Library Journal"
Erik Barnouw (1908-2001) was professor of dramatic arts at
Columbia University, and in 1978 was named chief of the Library of
Congress's Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound
Division. Among his many books are "Documentary: A History of the
Non-Fiction Film" and the award-winning three-volume "History of
Broadcasting in the United States."
Deirdre Boyle is core faculty in the Graduate Media Studies
Program at New School University. A video historian, media critic,
consultant, and psychotherapist, she is the author of "Subject to
Change: Guerilla Television Revisited."
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