ABSTRACT
The Roper Organization has asked people: everything considered, do you agree or disagree that having commercials on television is a fair price to pay for being able to watch it? In 1974 most people agreed, seven to one, that it was a fair price. This "poll," paid for by the National Association of Broadcasters, was perhaps less a search for information than a propaganda ploy. To answer it, people had to accept the premise that "having commercials" was the price—the only price—they were paying. The luminous screen in the home carries fantastic authority. Viewers feel that they understand, from television alone, what is going on in the world. They unconsciously look to it for guidance as to what is important, good, and desirable, and what is not. It has tended to displace or overwhelm other influences such as newspapers, school, church, grandpa, grandma. It has become the definer and transmitter of a society's values.
