Due to Circumstances Beyond Our Control by Friendly, Fred W - 1967

Random House, 1967. Hardcover. Very Good/Good. 6.25" x 9.5. h/b 325 pages, condition is very good, some wear, small nicks and tears, to the DJ. "Because television can make so much money doing its worst, it often cannot afford to do its best." This paradox summarizes the dilemma of commercial television today, and is the theme of this "occupational memoir" of Fred Friendly's sixteen years at the Columbia Broadcasting System. During that period he produced hundreds of documentaries and public-service programs-more than any other individual in the history of television. In partnership with Ed Murrow, or with others, he was responsible for such award-winning series as See It Now and CBS Reports, and for such single broadcasts as "The Case Against Milo Radulovich," the report on Senator McCarthy, "Harvest of Shame" and "Biography of a Bookie Joint." During his last two years with CBS, Mr. Friendly was president of the news division, and it was from this position that he resigned on February 15, 1966, in a dispute with the management over its decision to broadcast a fifth rerun of I Love Lucy instead of Ambassador George Kennan's testimony in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's hearings on Vietnam. Of that disagreement in principle, which made headlines across the country and which polarized the conflict between television's best and worst instincts, Mr. Friendly writes: ". . . whether it was I who lost my head or the television industry which lost its way is something each reader may decide for himself. If it is the former, no action is required; if the latter, a possible course of action is outlined. . ." This "possible course of action" has produced fresh headlines and controversy. Shortly after his departure from CBS, Mr. Friendly joined the Ford Foundation as a television consultant, and together he and McGeorge Bundy have created a "people's dividend," a radical proposal for a new public-service network. The author's withering evaluation of much of the networks' current programing, his penetrating analysis of the enormous profits garnered by broadcasters, and his condemnation of the FCC's failure to police an industry using airwaves belonging to all the people, are shocking and persuasive arguments for fresh guidelines and principles to give birth to a new golden age of television. This provocative and disturbing book is a first small step postulating "circumstances within our control" that can enlarge and enrich not only the viewing habits of millions of Americans, but their knowledge, vision and way of life.