Public television in the late 1960s openly produced anti-establishment, anti-consumerist programming

Evidence

Buoyed by their success with children, over the late 1960s public broadcasters began to reach directly for countercultural audiences with shows like the Public Broadcasting Laboratory, a magazine program produced by Fred Friendly. It debuted with a drama featuring blacks in “white-face,” and among PBL’s productions was Inside North Vietnam, a fairly sympathetic portrayal of the country under American air attack. Another ambitious effort was The Great American Dream Machine, an antiestablishment, anti-consumerist variety show, if such a thing could exist. “We’re trying to show what a great country this could be,” said the producers, “if we got rid of the false values sold to us by hucksters and con men who have contempt for the public.” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 577

Categorization

• XREF: The public-broadcasting tension between serving counterculture and being a state-funded institution parallels the book’s recurring question of who pays the attention merchant. — connects to: The counterculture was co-opted when networks traded relevant programming for viewer attention — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 584; Sponsor-driven television suppressed any programming that contradicted upbeat commercial messages — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 497; Reformers saw television as a neutral tool redeemable for higher purposes — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 570

Broader Connections

• The counterculture was co-opted when networks traded relevant programming for viewer attention #complicates (0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 584
• Sponsor-driven television suppressed any programming that contradicted upbeat commercial messages #contradicts (0.80) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 497
• Reformers saw television as a neutral tool redeemable for higher purposes #contradicts (0.75) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 570