| Abstract: | We are frequently reminded that ‘Telévision is people’. This, like so many short statements, is over-simplified and only partly true. The most superlatively produced and presented television in the world would fail if the studio, transmission and reception equipment and the supporting administrative machine were unequal to the demands made upon them. However, in the long run, success does depend on the human factor—the quality of the people involved—and this applies equally to any kind of television operation, whatever its size or purpose, although obviously different kinds of people with different backgrounds and qualifications will be required to satisfy the needs of a medium which is used to cover the whole span of communication. It must always be remembered that the glamour—one might almost say magic—which attaches to television and has a good deal to do with its impact, confers no special privileges on the participants. The medium is strictly neutral and will direct its impersonal and unerring spotlight on the bad just as easily as the good. The ‘hardware’ provides the opportunity; it is up to the people involved to make the best use of it. |
