【正文】 s had its endless hours of mediocrity and its moments of public disgrace. There are estimates today that the average viewer spends about 200 minutes daily with television, while the average reader spends 38 minutes with magazines, 40 minutes with newspapers. Television has grown faster than a teenager, and now it is time to grow up. What you gentlemen broadcast through the people39。s history the times demand the best of all of us. We need imagination in programming, not sterility。 we are going to protect it from those who would strangle it in its crib. As for UHF, I39。s trust in you a wise choice. They should be seen. As you know, we are readying for use new forms by which broadcast stations will report their programming to the Commission. You probably also know that special attention will be paid in these forms to reports of public service programming. I believe that stations taking work service should also be required to report the extent of the local clearance of work public service programs, and when they fail to clear them, they should explain why. If it is to put on some outstanding local program, this is one reason. But if it is simply to run an old movie, that39。re truly interested in the service you give them to make notes, document cases, tell us the facts. And for those few of you who really believe that the public interest is merely what interests the public, I hope that these hearings will arouse no little interest. The FCC has a fine reserve of monitors almost 180 million Americans gathered around 56 million sets. If you want those monitors to be your friends at court, it39。s airwaves. The squandering of our airwaves is no less important than the lavish waste of any precious natural resource. I intend to take the job of chairman of the FCC very seriously. I happen to believe in the gravity of my own particular sector of the New Frontier. There will be times perhaps when you will consider that I take myself or my job too seriously. Frankly, I don39。clock Sunday morning. For every hour that the people give you you owe them something. And I intend to see that your debt is paid with service. Second: I think it would be foolish and wasteful for us to continue any wornout wrangle over the problems of payola, rigged quiz shows, and other mistakes of the past. There are laws on the books which we will enforce. But there is no chip on my shoulder. We live together in perilous, uncertain times。 we want you to editorialize, take positions. We only ask that you do it in a fair and a responsible manner. Those stations that have editorialized have demonstrated to you that the FCC will always encourage a fair and responsible clash of opinion. You must provide a wider range of choices, more diversity, more alternatives. It is not enough to cater to the nation39。 the editorials are not replaced by more ics。s not been their accuracy it39。t tell us what the public might watch if they were offered halfadozen additional choices. A rating, at best, is an indication of how many people saw what you gave them. Unfortunately, it does not reveal the depth of the peration, or the intensity of reaction, and it never reveals what the acceptance would have been if what you gave them had been better if all the forces of art and creativity and daring and imagination had been unleashed. I believe in the people39。 petition for ever higher ratings。t do better? Well a glance at next season39。s Victory and Twilight Zone。ve gone to sleep at your switch. We haven39。s world employed the atom to destroy the world or rebuild it for mankind39。 to encourage it, not threaten it。t surprise me if some of you had expected me to e here today and say to you in effect, Clean up your own house or the government will do it for you. Well, in a limited sense, you would be right because I39。s talk only of television today. 1960 gross broadcast revenues of the television industry were over 1,268,000,000 dollars. Profit before taxes was 243,900,000 dollars, an average return on revenue of per cent. Compare these with 1959, when gross broadcast revenues were 1,163,900,000 dollars, and profit before taxes was 222,300,000, an average return on revenue of per cent. So the percentage increase of total revenues from 39。t managed yet to stay out of hot water. I seem to have detected a very nervous apprehension about what I might say or do when I emerged from that locked office for this, my maiden station break. So first let me begin by dispelling a rumor. I was not picked for this job because I regard myself as the fastest draw on the New Frontier. Second, let me start a rumor. Like you, I have carefully read President Kennedy39。美國經(jīng)典英文演講 100 篇 :Television and the Public Interest Newton N. Minow Television and the Public Interest delivered 9 May 1961, National Association of Broadcasters, Washington, DC [AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio] Governor Collins, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Governor Collins you39。s messages about the regulatory agencies, conflict of interest, and the dangers of ex parte contacts. And, of course, we at the Federal Communications Commission will do our part. Indeed, I may even suggest that we change the name of the FCC to The Seven Untouchables. It may also e as a surprise to some of you, but I want you to know that you have my admiration and my respect. Yours is a most honorable profession. Anyone who is in the broadcasting business has a tough row to hoe. You earn your bread by using public property. When you work in broadcasting you volunteer for public service, public pressure, and public regulation. You must pete with other attractions and other investments, and the only way you can do it is to prove to us every three years that you should have been in busin