Television

Is Watching TV a good influence or a bad influence?
Is TV the Opiate of the Masses and It's Powerful Impact
More people predominately get their information about current events, history, entertainment, sports, what to buy and politics etc. from television. No one denies it's power over the populace.
Television meaning anything viewable on cable, off air or off satellite. This is differentiated from text in newspapers, magazines, books and the internet. Television broadcasts are available on the internet but we will consider them as associated with television.
Present society has grown up with television. Everyone has experienced the facination and cultural impact of “the Survivor”, “American Idol”, the super bowls. Television and world wide viewer ship of Ted Turner's CNN is an example of the impact. The present presidential debates' ratings exemplify this fact. Viewer polls have shown more young adults get their news watching “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” than any other television network. No one denies it's power over the populace.
So has this medium been good or a bad influence? Both. It's brought more information and current events to more people worldwide. We can assume that this is good. Information helps people make better decisions. Information and learning opportunities presented by programs like PBS' NOVA, The Discovery Channel and The History Channel to name a few. News, sports, music, different language channels may all add to a better educated world.
Then there are the questionable aspects like slanted news programs, false advertising, violence, horror and questionably bad programs that do not add to the betterment of human societal values. Watching young people crack their heads open and become comatose or blatant sexual advertising and programming might not be good for 5 year olds.
As with any Bill Of Rights amendment, the founding father's couldn't have perceived Uzi's in the streets or graphic violence and sexuality available with power applied to a TV in every household.
So if we make decisions based on 30 second negative ads to choose our leaders, this is bad. It has created an ill informed citizenry. So where would they get further information? They don't read newspapers anymore. The Internet is not a reliable source for unbiased opinions either.
Watching Jay Leno's “Jaywalking where he interviews students and others about current events, no one knows who is the Vice President of the U.S.A. They can't answer very simple questions about current events or history. So there seems to be a true “dumbing down” of our citizens. This is bad for our democracy in terms of making good choices when voting for our leaders.
Television has been, is, both good and bad for our democracy. It has given an opportunity for learning yet provided programming with no social redeeming values. More people watch so much TV it is the medium of choice. The impact of advertising will be in section two.