THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS AND THE AMERICAN TELEVISION PROGRAMMING

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS AND THE AMERICAN TELEVISION PROGRAMMING

            Launched in the late 1940s and became popular in the 1950s as well as the 1960s, the civil rights movement was a quest for respect for the rights of African Americans in the United States. Inspired by the need to seek freedom and equality, black Americans continued to push for the eradication of discrimination that had adversely impacted their personal and professional lives. Although slavery had been brought to an end in the last ten decades during the 1960s, African Americans were subjected to racial violence, discrimination, and segregation in various spheres of life such as schools and public transport system. For instance, Jim Crow rules that were started by both state and local governments barred them from accessing public schools, courts, and trains. In the midst of the 1960s, several boycotts and movements established were instrumental in ushering in social justice that had almost become unattainable among black Americans. To attain equality, civil rights activists used various approaches such as non-violent demonstrations as well as disobedience acts comprising sit-ins. The outset of the civil rights movement led to the abolition of some laws such as those of Jim Crows and the passing of some legislations including the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Nonetheless, in the 1960s, the use of television to disseminate news relating to the civil rights movement became widespread throughout the United States. During that period, television played a fundamental role in highlighting injustices that the black Americans faced and illustrated how they undertook their non-violent demonstrations. Therefore, this paper will focus on the influence that the civil rights movement in the 1960s had on American television programming and its social and industrial impacts.

Despite its popular use in the 1960s, the 1950s was the time when most of the Americans began to use televisions to know what was trending in the country in lieu of newspapers as well as radio. In the 1950s, nonetheless, television was only accessible to those families who were able to purchase. The majority of the Americans did not own televisions; this explains why the civil rights movement took a long time to gain ground despite its introduction in the late 1940s. In the mid of the 1960s, approximately 90% of the Americans had bought televisions; they began to access live coverage of events regarding civil rights protests conducted by black Americans and other whites concerned with equality and freedom (Bodroghkozy, 2012, p.67). In the early 1960s, some of the media platforms which were available included Life and Look magazine that was mostly read by the majority of the Americans and Newsweek. However, none of the aforementioned media was comparable to televisions since they had become common among the Americans. Also, due to the fact that the television network had reached almost every household in the US, Americans started to consider television as their main news channel.

The advent of the civil rights movement in the 1960s contributed to the development of the media industry. The majority of the Americans yearned to receive on-time news relating to several protests that were being carried out by civil rights activists. Before the onset of the 1960s, the only few national media channels that were used by the Americans were in the form of picture magazines. For instance, as had been pointed out in the preceding paragraph, Times as well as Newsweek were examples of magazines that were utilised in conveying news. Nonetheless, these types of magazines were limited in relation to their accessibility; only a few Americans were able to get them. Despite their desire to be given news concerning their country, Americans did not get detailed information about the civil rights movement. The proliferation of the civil rights movement, however, initiated and bolstered the growth of the media industry. Since the 1960s was characterised by numerous non-violent protests, television channels started to focus on the dissection of their news so that different news unit could be created. For instance, in the year 1963, CBS as well as NBC started to read night news every 1 hour. Thereafter, the other television networks introduced more divisions of news, documentaries, special reports, and other segments that attracted the attention of the people. For example, special reports mostly concentrated on demonstrations organised by civil rights activists. Due to the urge among the Americans to be updated on time in regard to the activities of the civil rights movement, television channels devoted their financial resources to on-time news. The live coverage of news was considered as the most crucial facet of the television networks because many Americans were watching. In the 1950s, most of the television channels were only airing movies that did not attract the attention of the public. Thus, it was only in the 1960s that the television networks began to reconsider their programmes in line with the trending news relating to the civil rights movement.

Also, in the midst of the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Junior and the Southern Leadership Christian Conference (SCLC) were aware that visual images were instrumental in facilitating their civil rights actions. They took into account the power that televisions had in communicating the moral need to end the discrimination of black Americans in their various aspects of life comprising schools and transport system. Martin Luther King Junior and SCLC wanted to use visual images to seek sympathy from the audience so that they can request legislators to come up with laws targeting injustices meted on African Americans. The essence of appealing to the public was a suitable approach to pressurising the federal government to act in the best interests of the black Americans. To illustrate that television was a powerful tool for organising and successfully staging protests in Washington and other cities, Martin Luther King Junior and other civil rights activists did not talk about it. They had realised they had found the most effective media strategy which if they had disclosed, they would not have been able to achieve their intended objective of pursuing moral support from the public.

WDBJ as well as WLSL which broadcasted stories concerning civil rights movement was different than those owned by the whites. The above television channels focused on news relating to the white leaders while also taking into account the plight of the black Americans. In its news programme, WSLS used a different logo of the Democratic Party during the presentation of news.

In the 1960s, the NBC had a news programme dubbed as Meet The Press which solely focused on the civil rights movement. For instance, in the year 1965, the NBC through the aforementioned programme interviewed Martin Luther King Junior regarding the problems that the black Americans were facing.

SCLC and Martin Luther King Jr were cognisant of the fact that television news were significant in passing their message not only to the public, but also congressmen and senators who would consider their cry for justice and equality among the black Americans. This means that the secret to attracting many people who would join their civil rights movement was the use of dramatic pictures. During the 1960s, prime time news was mostly read in the late afternoon in almost all television channels. Martin Luther King Junior and SCLC spent most of their morning shooting their protests so that they can broadcast them through television networks. To reinforce their need to attract the attention of the media, they combined their marches with physical confrontation amongst themselves. Martin Luther King Jr and other civil rights activists were, however, cautious in their approach to partially using violence so that they do not brutalise themselves. Therefore, their efforts of using television news ended up reaching many civil agencies and individuals who coerced the federal and state governments to abolish discriminatory laws and devise new ones that would protect the rights of African Americans.

Besides, through the support of the civil rights movement, American television programming was important in impacting social changes in society. Initially, few people, especially the whites, had heard about the civil rights movement and its intention to do away with discriminatory laws and policies. However, the onset of the televisions not only made the whites aware of the civil rights movement, but also change their attitudes towards African Americans. Civil rights activists used televisions to reach whites who were not living in the South. For instance, one of the televisions that was utilised by Martin Luther King Jr and SCLC was WLBT-TV which was based in Mississippi. The above-mentioned television network aired news concerning civil rights; however, after covering cases relating to racial injustices, the Justice Department withdrew its license in the year 1969. In fact, after a series of news broadcasted by television networks, some of the white people started to sympathise with the racial tribulations that African Americans were facing (Morgan and Davies, 2012, p.67). They joined the civil rights movement and forced the government institutions to abandon discriminating black Americans.

During the civil rights era, television programmes were geared toward coming up with stories relating to how black Americans were being discriminated. The majority of the television networks searched their civil rights news in the South since the violation of rights of the African Americans were prevalent in this region. However, although violent discriminatory cases were rampant, television channels tried as much as possible to make them appear simple. They later began to identify racially discriminated black Americans so that they can come up with special reports (Hall, 2011, p.145). Also, after the establishment of various legislations abolishing racial segregation as well as discrimination, television channels reported about the impacts that they had on the country. To accomplish this objective, they sought some white people to know about the progress of such legislations. Nonetheless, in some instances, television networks were accused of biasedly selecting stories relating to racial discrimination to broadcast. They reported cases concerning the violation of the rights of African Americans without incorporating images of violent clashes into their news. Thus, this gave the impression that racial discrimination among black Americans had been eliminated yet little progress had been achieved in relation to the quest for justice in the UD during the era of the civil rights movement.

The use of televisions among the civil rights activists also resulted in political discourses that led to the abolition of laws discriminating against black Americans. Civil protests that were organised by civil rights activists were televised until both the federal and local governments began to reassess the need to adopt equality and safeguard African Americans from injustices that threaten their lives (Hall, 2007, p.78). Legislations passed between 1964 and 1965 were helpful in not only championing for the freedom of black Americans, but also dealing with economic and political challenges that they faced in the past as a result of racial discrimination. For instance, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a crucial rule that assisted in ending segregation that was meted on black Americans who were seeking to use public facilities. The legislation further pointed out that all victims of racial discrimination were entitled to be given an attorney who would represent them in courts. Also, regarded as the most important legislation advocated by black activists, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 stipulated that all people irrespective of their racial affiliation were allowed to vote.

In conclusion, the 1960s were marked by the civil rights movement whose role was to fight for freedom among black Americans. During this period, televisions among American households had become widespread; civil rights activists began to use them to appeal to the white people and other communities about the need to put to an end the violation of the rights of the African Americans. They contributed to political discussions concerning the passing of legislations protecting the rights of all people. Although American television programming was vital in highlighting the plight of the black Americans, the way in which news was being presented was changed. For instance, television channels segmented their news into documentaries, special reports, and other sections.

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