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Metzger 1

Mark MetzgerAllison PerlmanBroadcasting History and Analysis 85B27 February 2015A Time For Truth: Commercial vs. Noncommercial BroadcastingThe Civil Rights Movement was a definitive part of 1960s America. With Martin Luther King Jr. leading the way, African Americans fought for equality and desegregation through bus boycotts, sit-ins, freedom marches, and many other non-violent acts of protestation; and the media was there to capture and shape it all. The Civil Rights movement may not have been possible without the assistance of the media, and specifically television. Everyday the struggle in the South was broadcast out to the rest of the nation, and showed the American people the rise of racial tensions and the injustice that the African Americans were fighting against, though the degree of these tensions depended on what type of network station you were watching. There was a significant difference in broadcasting between commercial and noncommercial networks. Even though Newton Minnow, the head of the Federal Communications Commission, stated in 1960 that commercial television was a vast wasteland, these commercial networks still had to be careful in what they aired to the people, for fear of losing sponsors and popular support. Noncommercial networks, on the other hand, did not have to worry about losing sponsorships and popular support since they were publically owned, and were free to be as radical and controversial as they wanted to be, so long as they did not cross the lines of indecency and obscenity. Noncommercial networks aired programs such as A Time For Burning, which addressed the issues of inequality and race relations in America in not only a more realistic and in-depth way, but also in a more honest way than the programs that commercial networks aired.A Time For Burning, originally aired in 1966, follows the Augustana Lutheran Church of Omaha, Nebraska as its new pastor tries to start integrating African Americans into the church. This documentary takes a more realistic approach to the issue of race relations than many other commercial programs did at the time. The main focus of the racial issues in America was in the South, so many commercial networks went there to get their stories. A Time For Burning takes a different approach. A Time For Burning goes to the North. We see here that race relations are not solely tense in the South, but also very present in the North, and A Time For Burning takes the opportunity to shed light on issues outside of the usual South. A Time For Burning also does not just stick to one location for finding issues on race relations. We see in the documentary not only very tense relations inside the church as the new pastor begins to push for integration, but we are also taken to everyday locations like a barbershop, and places so personal like the home. Filming in places like a barbershop and the home brings a very casual approach to a very heated topic, and the contrast not only makes the issue stronger, but also brings a normalcy to the situation. By using locations other than just the church, the documentary exposes a more realistic situation, for racial tensions are not only present in one place at one time; they are everywhere, and they are personal. Commercial networks did not go as in depth into race relation issues as noncommercial networks did. Commercial networks had to rely on sponsors and popular support to stay in business, so these networks tended to stray away from the nitty-gritty topics of an issue and find an answer to a really unresolved situation. In The Andy Griffith Shows allegorical episode Stranger in Town, the townsfolk of Mayberry become suspicious when a new man comes into town and treats everybody like he has known them his entire life. Eventually Andy Griffith comes to the rescue and restores order by explaining to everyone that the newcomer belongs in Mayberry just as everyone else does, which allows all of the townsfolk to accept the newcomer and return to their happy-go-lucky lives. In this episode, there are only two sides to the situation of the newcomer (who is the allegorical reference of a black man integrating into town): those that are deeply scared of the newcomer, and Andy Griffith, who tries to understand the newcomer. There are hardly ever only two sides to an argument, which noncommercial programs such as A Time For Burning convey. In the town of Omaha, there is not one person who has the exact same opinion on integration as another. Most people agree with one side of the argument more than another, but there are always small differences in everyones beliefs. A Time For Burning also never fully resolves like The Andy Griffith Show does, which is not only more in-depth filmmaking but also more realistic as well. Race relations are never fully resolved, especially as quickly as The Andy Griffith Show resolves them, and A Time For Burning understands that as we see Caucasian Americans and African Americans attending church together at the end, but still with as much tension between the races as before. Most importantly, noncommercial programs were more honest in their documenting of race relations than commercial networks were. Commercial networks tended to actively participate in Civil Rights issues rather than just observe. In CBS coverage of the Little Rock school desegregation crisis, a group of reporters advocated situations to arise and even tried to recreate moments that had already occurred. When Shakne realized he didnt have the footagehe ordered up an artificial retake. He urged the crowd, which had fallen quieter, to demonstrate its anger again, this time for the cameras. Yell again! Shakne implored as his cameraman started filming (Bodroghkozy 43-44). A Time For Burning does not participate in the events in the church at all, and rather simply observes. The documentary uses a film style called cinma vrit, which translates to truthful cinema. This style is often referred to as observational cinema, where the filmmaker is simply observing the situation with his camera, filming like a fly on the wall. Most commercial programs are not nearly as honest in their representations of race relations as A Time For Burning is, which can be seen in CBS Reports Who Speaks For The South? Who Speaks For The South? follows the townsfolk of Atlanta as they debate in the State Capitol about the integration of African Americans into public schools. Here we see a variety of different opinions and voices, but each one falls into a stereotype that commercial broadcasters have already created in these issues, such as the white moderates, the white Southern bigots, the worthy black victims of racial discrimination, and the white reporter willing to speak for the them (Bodroghkozy 45-60). All of these characters can be seen in the broadcast of Who Speaks For The South? and we do not get a new and honest portrayal of race relations in the South, where we see in juxtaposition in A Time For Burning, where few people fall into these stereotypes. A Time For Burning shows unique individuals in their most vulnerable and conflicted states, and does not hide away from showing the reality of the situation. Noncommercial networks had the freedom to expose race relations in the 1960s in more realistic, in depth, and honest ways than commercial networks could have, and did. A Time For Burning is an excellent example of noncommercial programming at its finest, but it is not the only program to address issues like this. The Black Journal, another noncommercial program, addressed the issues of race relations from the African American perspective, and it was not afraid to ask difficult and unanswerable questions. Programs like these may not have been the most popular in their time, nor did they assist the Civil Rights movement as much as commercial programs did, but these are the programs that brought television out of its vast wasteland and into the light of great journalism.

Work CitedBodroghkozy, Aniko. The Chosen Instrument of the Revolution? Equal Time: Television and the Civil Rights Movement. University of Illinois: 2012. Print.