News and public affairs programming of the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston UniversityThis study investigates the public affairs and news organization and programming of the Westinghouse Broad-casting Company. An attempt is made to evaluate the WBC operations and to determine whether other broadcasters should adapt WBC practices to their own situations and whether this could be done without a large capital investment. Part One is devoted to an investigation of the general aspects of public affairs and news broadcasting. The distinguishing features of public service and public affairs are treated in some detail because of the confusion which these terms evoke, even among broadcasters. In the discussion of news broadcasting, the responsibilities of broadcast newsmen are emphasized. The writer attempts here to determine whether there is a valid type of excitement which an be injected into a newscast (as Westinghouse believes) or whether all excitement in news presentation is sensationalism. Different approaches to news by three basic types of news organization are considered in this chapter, and the relationships of organization and news approach are treated. [TRUNCATED