USA Unit 3(0.8) Flashcards
Before radio what provide Americans with news? By the 1930s what percentage of the population had a radio? What was the main use of radio ? What other uses? Which president pioneered the use of the Radio?
-Newspapers but by the 1930s radio was reducing their influence.
-By the 1930s 80% of the population had a radio and listened on average 4 hours a day.
-The main use of the radio was for entertainment. Americans also listened to news reports and current affairs programmes.
-Roosevelt used the radio for his ‘fireside chats’ in which he explained the New Deal.
Was TV news a success to begin with? How long did evening News first last for?
-NO. Initially news programmes lost money and the TV networks offered them mianly to placate federal overseers.
-Evening news was originally only for 15 minutes.
What had TV news gained in the 1960s? What was the duration of evening news expanded to? Where did TV news rank as a source of information? When did early news programmes become popular?
-Respect from larger audiences.
-In 1963, CBS and NBC expanded their nightly newscasts to 30 minutes.
-1963 most surveys suggested that Americans ranked TV as their main source of news-information.
-Early morning news programmes became popular in the 1970s.
In 1952 what did president Nixon use TV for? What was his speech called?
How many viewers watched Eisenhower’s inauguration 1953?
What did the 1954 Army-Carthy televised hearings in senate expose McCarthy as?
-1952, Vice president Nixon, accused of financial corruption, used national TV to defend himslef.
-His ‘Checkers’ speech impressed Americans and he remained popular.
-1953, 29 million viewers watched Eisenhower’s inauguartion.
-The 1954 Army-Carthy hearings showed him to be a bully.
How many televised debates did Kennedy and Nixon take part in 1960? Who was ahead in polls before the first debate? What number of people watched on TV who did they think won?
Who would go onto win the election?
-Kennedy and Nixon took part in 3 televised debates.
-Nixon was ahead in the polls before the first debate. Those who then heard the debate on radio thought he won.
-60 million watched on Tv and thought Kennedy had won.
-Kennedy would go onto win the election. Tv was recognised as advancing the careers of telegenic politicians like Kennedy and Reagan.
What events in Civil Rights did Tv capture?
-Tv cameras captured the events at Little Rock(1957), Birmingham(1963), Selma(1965) and other occasions when violence was used against peaceful activists.
-Images of events in the South shocked viewers across the globe, assisting the civil rights cause.
What war is recognised as the USA’s first ‘living room war’?
Up to 1968 was mainstream Tv supportive or anti war? What were producers fearful of?
By 1968 what had reporting become?
-The Vietnam war, TV was regarded as crucial in determining the outcome by turning US opinion against the war.
-Mainstream Tv was mostly supportive of the war.
-Fearful of upsetting viewers, the networks rarely showed actual combat or bloodshed.
-By 1968 reporting of the war became more critical and some disturbing scenes (in colour).
Why do critics argue Tv news may of had a limited impact?
-Nightly national newscasts never had audiences comparable to the entertainment shows.
-Local newscasts usually had larger followings. They usually focused on light features and sensational crimes.
