ABSTRACT
Entertainment media in America are 90 percent business and 10 percent public service. Or are these figures too weighted toward public service? Gerry Spence, the well-known trial attorney, insists that “ratings are what television is about, not freedom, not truth. If American television could sell lies and falsehoods more profitably, we would never hear another word of truth.”1 Only the most unrepentant idealist would argue that social responsibility is a major consideration in most entertainment media decisions. If social benefits show up in the product, all well and good, but woe to the producer, director, editor, or recording executive whose product shows a financial loss, whatever the social gain. The profit motive is the most compelling concern in entertainment industry decisions; some observers insist it is the only concern.
