The two items on opposite sides of the Jan. 5 op-ed page provided an interesting counterpoint. On the left side of the page was an excerpt from a Newton Minow speech bemoaning television`s lack of growth over the past 30 years.
On the other side an excerpt from an editorial described Ted Turner as
”an inspired choice (for Time`s Man of the Year).” It went on to say that
”CNN, Turner`s brainchild, has truly transformed the country.”
After reading that, one looks over at Minow`s comments somewhat dismissively. Sorry, Mr. Minow, thanks to CNN (and a host of other advances in TV programming by cable, network and local producers) television is far from a vast wasteland.
A further note of irrelevance in Minow`s remarks is his complaint that the needs of public television have been neglected. Who needs a federal network when a much better job is being done by CNN, A&E, Discover, Lifetime, BET and many other cable networks?
