Fred W. Friendly Quote - Liberty Quotes Blog

"No mighty king, no ambitious emperor, no pope, or prophet ever dreamt
of such an awesome pulpit, so potent a magic wand [television]."

by:	Fred W. Friendly (1915-1998) former president of CBS News, creator with Edward R. Murrow of the documentary television program 'See It Now.'
Source:	Foreword: Presidential Television, 1973
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Categories:	Media, Power, Press
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Reader comments about this quote:

Such potent magic sustains the dumming down of a once free and productive people and protects the statist theocracy that infests this land - killing all that which is noble. -- Mike, Norwalk 5
Mike doesn't want people to know things that is why he is against the Tele. Mike what do you think about the Net, you against it also? You might consider living in China. Now O is going to get the Repubs to visit the light of day on TV discussing Health Care Reform. Big shots are held accountable in a democracy even on TV. TV is only helpful in a free and democratic society, not in the type of society Mike would prefer. -- Waffler, Smith 3
Waffler, do you deliberately miss a particularly made point just to promote ignorance at every opportunity? TV is more often used to distract from truths than it is to promote them. "An Inconvenient Pack of Lies" is good example of this. I rarely watch TV anymore and cut off the cable some time ago. We get our info off the net and entertain ourselves in the old fashioned ways. Screw the propoganda machine. -- J Carlton, Calgary 5
This is an important quote. The medium of television is a tool for 'programming' people. Most of what Waffler spouts is but a parroting of mainstream media -- now almost entirely owned by the ruling junta. I am still amazed when I walk into someone's house with CNN on in the corner all day long -- and they will be the first to tell you about the dangers of terrorism, 'climate change,' over population, and the latest horrific killing spree. Small minds filled with 'news' that scares them -- and yet they tune in again and again to get their daily dose of fear and hate. It isn't long that they yell "bomb 'em, bomb 'em!" at those bearded darkies with turbans. Turn that crap off and READ. Better yet, develop one's ability to REASON. And remember that television is a SELLING medium for the advertisers -- which is why there are so many commercials for drugs now, not for curing anything, but for keeping you buying until they kill you. -- E Archer, NYC 3
Waffler, there are a few good and informative programs on TV with some nice entertainment but, for the most part, it is an excellent propaganda tool. Take for instance one of the biggest liars and purveyors of unlawful and unconstitutional half truths and misleading misinformation in the nation -Obama. He is going to go on TV to discuss his statist theocracy's unconstitutional vision of Health Care, complete with cannon Reform. I have my own religion, I don't need that liars' destructive cannons forced on me. TV is the tool Obomunist has chosen to persuade the ignorant and numb and, enlighten his doting patronage. -- Mike, Norwalk 5
J Carlton, E Archer, Excellent! -- Mike, Norwalk 5
Hitler would have loved it. Almost as much as Obama. Of course info on the radio or internet is bad for America and has to go. All in the name of protecting the "truth". -- warrren, olathe 4
Stay in your own home, talk to know one, keep your face to the wall seems to be the methodology espoused above. Fear of others and fear of truth is what y'all are about. -- Waffler, Smith 2 5
TV is fantastic, unfortunately, it has a dark side which attracts greed, ego, power, and religious fundamentalists; all of which use the medium for spewing their propaganda and lies. It has made our children sedentary and the health care industry rich as a result. TV is a wonderful medium if used correctly and for education (though the line between entertainment and education has been fused); it has brought University into every community and not just for the privileged few; it can bring the world to your doorstep, the beautiful and the horrific. Look what it did re; Vietnam, Tiananman Square, 9-11 and so on. There will always be those who exploited the medium for their own agendas - it has made propaganda so easy to procure and so dangerous in the hands of corporate greed and political corruption. Mike, Obama and his benefactors are just the tip of the iceberg. Tea Parties, Brown Shirts, paid thugs; as Marshall McLuhan said, 'tell them, show them, and then tell them what you told them' (or something like that). TV is an incredible reflection of each of us. -- RBESRQ 1
"Stay in your own home, talk to know one, keep your face to the wall seems to be the methodology espoused above"...On the contrary Waffler. We're much better informed than anyone relying on the Main Stream Propoganda Machine. And far from staying home facing the wall...I'm sounding the alarm publicly every day. In fact I use the same technique as the MSM...just a suggestion that all is not well...just planting doubts about our criminal system...just a little push here and there. With tremendous results too! :) -- J Carlton, Calgary 4
Robert, I agree with most of what you've said. A few glaring exceptions are 9/11; TV helps to keep the official lie in place (no plane hit the pentagon, bldg 7 wasn't brought down from exterior events, nano thermite - an exclusive US military technology, was found through out the twin towers wreckage, etc., etc., etc.) Other than the perpetrators of 9/11's events, no one really knows who pulled off 9/11. I've not heard one piece of credible anything that would definitively indicate who really did it. TV did just what it was supposed to do for Viet Nam and society in general. Every day citizenry began to hate the forced under order military (even though it was an immoral and unconstitutional war from, by, and for Washington fat cats) and America lost its innocence on its way to becoming a Western European welfare state / socialist nation. AND, I've not seem much TV that reflects my religious, political, or otherwise self. For example: Oberman is just another obnoxious mouth, paid to find fault and point fingers at whom ever gets in the way of his version of the statist theocracy, all the while living in a glass house; and, Beck, while waking people up to some atrocities, is directing the wake up call to a governmentally controlled neocon camp. -- Mike, Norwalk 3
I agree because one channel always makes the lies told in the other channel appear in a different channel, dressed differently - in truth, like magic. -- Elisabeth, Astoria, NY 2
Mike, I couldn't agree more with you over 9-11 I could add a long list of other anomalies like steel girders having a 45 degree cut towards the interior and so on. With regards to Beck he is a traitor to the human race - his fowl assertions and demeanor are just what is bad in America. -- RBESRQ 1
those like Beck and Limbaugh are the puppets installed in anticipation of the upheaval our nation is going through to fool the very "elect" onto the road to perdition. Thank God they will not all be fooled. -- Anon 2
They don't call it television 'programming' for nothing! -- E Archer, NYC 4
Up coming events "Pre Recorded" programming in the stars above. Containment not possible, effecting of will in slow motion. Medium, nature and natural cause, on a Needing to Know basis. -- Ronw13, Oregon
Waffler, you described well the Woke of the enslaving Democratic party -- Mike, Norwalk 1
That is about the biggest Bingo I've ever seen, in a statement. -- Ronw13, ID
With all these charlatans, the revolutionary device would be the remote control switching over to Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. reruns. -- Fredrick William Sillik, Anytown

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