REMOTE CONTROL: Television and the Manipulation of American Life

by Frank & Joel L. Swerdlow Mankiewicz ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 9, 1977

This is obviously not a tome to keep on the living-room console alongside TV Guide. In bristling terms, it cites television for causing all the ills of society from teen-age acne to illiteracy among Yale students. But its main target is TV violence, which it condemns in--well, violent language. While the authors assert that this is ""the first survey of virtually all the scientific studies on the subject of TV violence,"" some of their conclusions and statements are rather less than scientific. ""Conservatively,"" they say, ""85,000 violent television-induced actions happen every night in the United States."" Or, again, ""Most Americans do not believe in the reality of any event or emotion that they have not seen on television."" Hardly laboratory findings. Errors are inevitable in so adversary a work. Just two: the affiliated stations, not the networks, have kept prime time news to a half-hour. Soap operas are not the only programs that deal with social questions; even situation comedies do that regularly today. The book offers interesting data on TV's treatment of women, blacks, and homosexuals and on the political aspects of TV, especially where there is no strong local station, such as New Jersey. And despite their lamentations over the video-caused condition of our citizenry, the authors concede that free television is far better than the government-controlled kind. What they cannot seem to do is grant autonomy to individuals or extra-TV influences.

Pub Date: Jan. 9, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Times Books

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1977

Categories: NONFICTION