SINAS Research Seminar: "In the Networks We Trust?"

Abstract: In the summer of 1971, broadcasters in the United States rallied to defeat a contempt citation in the House of Representatives. Congressman Harley O. Staggers recommended holding CBS News in contempt over its refusal to comply with a subpoena for unaired materials related to the production of the broadcast The Selling of the Pentagon. This moment is often remembered as a landmark victory for the freedom of the press. Yet behind the success was a group of conservative local broadcasters across the country who defended neither CBS News nor journalistic principles but rather their own business interests. Revisiting the confrontation makes clear that attempts to regulate and control television constitute a political process rife with competing, and at times contradictory, interests, highlighting tension between the local and national and between business and journalism as central themes in American television history.