From public to private, television as a global scale

Ciara Shanahan

Technology connects humans on a global scale, whether it is publicly or privately. As a medium, television has always done this; think back to one of the very first televised elections was in 1960’s: Kennedy and Nixon’s Presidential debate. Nixon had just endured knee surgery, was 20pounds underweight, and refused to wear make up. Conversely, Kennedy was just back from California and so had a tan. Many that listened to the election on the radio confirmed their thoughts that Nixon won, however the 70 million people that watched it on television were convinced Kennedy won. Why? Unlike radio, television is visual and the viewers made their assumptions from what they saw and not what they heard.

More on the public eye, television has caught historical moments like Princess Diana’s funeral, the tragic 9/11, Matt Sundin passing Darryl Sittler’s record of goals for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Michael Jackson’s court proceedings for child molestation, and in more recent news Britney Spears public breakdown(s). All of these moments have been caught on tape and have shown to the public, and no matter where people were during any of these moments they can now always go back and watch the recorded video feeds. A tragic event like 9/11 may or may not have actually been witnessed by many people. However it was consistently covered and shown over and over again to the point that we have an emotional attachment to September 11^th. Television brought us steps closer to the real thing; and this not always a bad thing. Yet it does show how public our lives are through something so private, like the television that we have in our own living rooms.