Fred W. Friendly Quotes

Even when I started in 1970, I knew that television was having a negative effect on our society.

I agree when people say TV is regressive. I would go back to TV only for the money.

I don't read the press, I don't watch endless music TV.

TV serves us most usefully when presenting junk-entertainment; it serves us most ill when it co-opts serious modes of discourse - news, politics, science, education, commerce, religion.

I've always been suspicious of TV, I've always found music and video to be an unhappy marriage.

I was one of the first generations to watch television. TV exposes people to news, to information, to knowledge, to entertainment. How is it bad?

Anyone afraid of what he thinks television does to the world is probably just afraid of the world.

We need to take on Hollywood. They are poisoning the minds of our kids.

If it doesn’t happen on television, it doesn’t happen.

I think there's enough TV that makes people feel dumb out there.

I am not afraid of mass media.

It is not at all clear how much the media influences public opinion and how much public opinion influences the media.

I don't know how you can do it, if you don't recognition the media as a power center in America.

Television is democracy at its ugliest.

Television and movies have short-circuited reality. I don't think a lot of people are entirely clear on what is real and what is on the screen.

I don't watch the media that much.

Television is something the Russians invented to destroy American education.

Television has tremendous power over our lives.

Savvy observers occasionally note television's resemblance to the weather: Everybody loves to complain about it, but nobody can do anything to fix it.

Let's be real: It's just TV; it's just entertainment.

Television is a young person's medium.

Television isn't inherently good or bad. You go to a bookstore, there are how many thousands of books, but how many of those do you want? Five? Television's the same way. If you're going to show people stuff, television is the way to go. Words and pictures show things.

It's just hard not to listen to TV: it's spent so much more time raising us than parents have.

Television is a powerful medium that has to be used for something better than sitcoms and police shows. On the other hand, if you don't recognize the forces that play on what people watch and what they don't then you're a fool and you should be in a different business.

Television is apparently the enemy of nuance. But nuance is essential for a thoughtful discussion.