Television Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Television - Essay Example The CBC had been charged with setting up a public service television system following the study carried out by a wide-ranging royal commission on the arts, letters and sciences, which reported in 1951. As the twenties came to a close, Canadian political elite became increasingly concerned that the commercial messages and entertainment-driven values from American radio stations that freely drifted across the border were eroding Canadian culture. The most popular radio show in Canada was the American produced situation comedy Amos n' Andy. In 1929 the Liberal government of Mackenzie King commissioned three men to study and report on the state of broadcasting in the country, beginning a relationship between the state and the media that has not weakened since. The three were Sir John Aird, a banker, Charles Bowman, a journalist with the Ottawa Citizen, and Augustin Frigon, an engineer at L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montral. The commissioners studied virtually every form of radio broadcasting in existence during the year of the investigation. By the time Aird delivered his report, the Liberals were out of office and a new Conservative Prime Minister, R. B. Bennett was in control. It was up to Bennett to decide which form broadcasting would take in Canada. Like King, Bennett was deeply concerned that American influence, especially its views on liberalism and republicanism, would soon dominate Canadian thinking.