The Mass Media—A Need for Greatness

• Date: 01 May 1967
• Author: André Fontaine
• Published date: 01 May 1967
• DOI: 10.1177/000271626737100105
• Subject Matter: Articles

72

The

Mass

Media—A

Need

for

Greatness

By

ANDRÉ

FONTAINE

André

Fontaine,

Syracuse,

New

York,

spent

more

than

thirty

years

as

writer

and

editor

for

both

newspapers

and

magazines

before

becoming

Associate

Professor

of

Journalism

at

the

Newhouse

Communications

Center,

Syracuse

University.

He

was

Sunday

Editor

of

the

Long

Island

Press,

City

Editor

of

Newsday,

Associate

Editor

of

Collier’s,

Editor

of

Bluebook,

Senior

Editor

of

Redbook.

He

has

contributed

articles

to

Reader’s

Digest,

Saturday

Evening

Post,

Look,

McCall’s,

Good

Housekeeping,

Ladies

Home

Journal,

and

virtually

all

the

other

mass

magazines.

He

has

won

three

national

awards

for

magazine

writing.

ABSTRACT:

United

States

mass

media

are

probably

the

world’s

greatest,

and

in

excellent

health,

more

mature

and

more

responsible

today

than

fifty

years

ago.

But

they

are

not

good

enough

because:

(1)

People

do

not

believe

what

they

read;

(2)

the

media

do

not

have

enough

or

the

right

kind

of

information;

(3)

editors

need

more

power;

and

(4)

there

are

large

gaps

in

knowledge

of

the

impact

that

the

media

have

on

the

audiences.

Once

these

shortcomings

have

been

remedied,

the

media

can

face

the

really

difficult

questions

of

the

times:

(1)

To

what

extent

has

newsmen’s

reportage

only

of

the

dramatic

distorted

readers’

concepts

of

reality?

(2)

To

what

extent

has

media’s

exploitation

of

violence

made

violence

prevalent?

(3)

To

what

extent

have

media

contributed

to

increase

in

promiscuity

and

the

cheap-

ening

of

sex?

(4)

To

what

extent

have

the

media

contributed

to

the

popularity

of

extremism

and

the

devil

theory

of

international

relations?