Question

newton minows speech to national association of broadcasters
speech by newton minow
1 newton minow (1926 - ) was appointed by president john kennedy as chairman of the federal communications commission, the agency responsible for regulating the use of the public airwaves. on may 9, 1961, he spoke to 2,000 members of the national association of broadcasters and told them that the daily fare on television was a vast wasteland. minows indictment of commercial television launched a national debate about the quality of programming. after minows speech, the television critic for the new york times wrote: i spent some broadcast seasons trying to find dark explanations for mr. minows attack on the quality of programming. after watching television, the viewer possibly can be a little helpful, mr. minow was watching television.
2 ours has been called the jet age, the atomic age, the space age. it is also, i submit, the television age. and just as history will decide whether the leaders of todays world community have used the atom to destroy the world or rebuild it for mankinds benefit, so will history decide whether todays broadcasters employed their powerful voice to enrich the people or debase them.
3 like everybody, i wear more than one hat. i am the chairman of the fcc. i am also a television viewer and the husband and father of other television viewers. i have seen a great many television programs that seemed to me eminently worthwhile, and i am not talking about the much - bemoaned good old days of playhouse 90 and studio one.
4 i am talking about the past season. some were wonderfully entertaining, such as coronados victory and twilight zone; some were marvelously informative, such as the national forum, cbs reports, and the valiant years. i could list many more - programs that i am sure everyone here felt enriched his own life and that of his family. when television is good, nothing - not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers - nothing is better.
5 but when television is bad, nothing is worse. i invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit - and - loss sheet, or rating book to distract you - and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. i can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.
6 you will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western badmen, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. and endlessly, commercials - many screaming, cajoling, and offending. and, most of all, boredom. true, you will see a few things you will enjoy. but they will be very, very few. and if you think i exaggerate, try it.
7 is there one person in this room who claims that broadcasting cant do better?
8 why is so much of television so bad? i have heard many answers: demands of your advertisers, competition for ever higher ratings, the need always to attract a mass audience, the high cost of television programs, the insatiable appetite for programming material - these are some of them. unquestionably these are tough problems not susceptible to easy answers.
9 if parents, teachers, and ministers conducted their responsibilities by following the ratings, children would have a steady diet of ice cream, school holidays, and no daily school. what about your responsibilities? is there no room on television to teach, to inform, to uplift, to stretch, to enlarge the capacities of our children? is there no room at their level of understanding of children in other lands? is there no room for a childrens news show explaining something about the world to them at their level? is there no room for reading the great literature of the past, teaching them the great traditions of freedom? there are some fine childrens shows, but they are drowned out in the massive doses of cartoons, violence and more violence. must these be your trademarks? search your consciences and see if you cannot offer more to your young beneficiaries whose future you guide as many hours each and every day.
what is minows purpose in giving this speech?
a to defend the role of the fcc in the broadcasting industry
b to discuss relevant issues and current events with broadcasters
c to encourage broadcasters to improve the quality of their programming
d to bestow congratulations upon broadcasters for the enduring quality of their work

Explanation:

Newton Minow, as FCC chairman, criticized the poor - quality programming on television and called on broadcasters to do better. His speech aimed to encourage broadcasters to improve the quality of their programming.

Answer:

C. to encourage broadcasters to improve the quality of their programming