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Research Prompt #7 - Television

Hannah Spaulding, University of Lincoln

Television is malleable and multifaceted. The term "television" is, in fact, deceptively complicated. It describes a diverse cluster of objects, ideas, and forms. Television can mean a type of narrative and mode of media production. It can also refer to a set of industries and infrastructures or delineate specific technologies and devices. Indeed, when we say “television,” we might be discussing TV shows, broadcast industries, transmission technologies, video monitors, or home consoles. Of all these definitions, there are certain meanings of television that occupy a more prominent position in the cultural imaginings of the medium. Television’s function as a commercial industry, domestic technology, and mass medium dominate its common-sense definitions. Yet television does more than simply transmit entertainment and news programming to a home audience. It also has been used in industry, science, education, and medicine, often bypassing broadcast transmissions and entertainment networks. Its boundaries are porous. Television involves a wide range of technologies, infrastructures, systems, and policies that inform and enable its operations.  

This research prompt takes account of television in all its definitional and historical complexity. The films discussed below examine a wide range of televisual forms, practices, technologies, and applications. Some of these films focus on TV programming. They explore the mechanics of broadcast news or sports reporting and analyze their effects on social and political life. Other films concentrate on television history, tracing the medium’s technological evolution, industrial development, and cultural impacts. Many of these films present different televisual technologies and infrastructures as part of a thriving Canadian economy. They highlight communication satellites, broadcast towers, and TV switching systems, presenting them as important forces in the creation of national unity and identity. Other films in this prompt look more explicitly at television’s useful functions. Some films survey different deployments of television as a tool for education and classroom learning, while others display it as an important new technology for science and industry. In these films, televisual utility is explicitly presented as something distinct from the more dominant conceptions of TV as a commercial and a domestic medium.

Taken together, these films present a complex picture of television. They explore its diverse identities and applications—from commercial entertainment to communication infrastructure to useful technology. More than this, these films offer examples of how television was understood and represented by different groups and interests. They provide glimpses into and critical commentaries of television’s cultural meanings and social significances. In studying these films, one can trace important and often overlooked discourses central to comprehending the history and discourse of television technology in Canada.


CESIF Films by Title

Anik

(1975, English, Sound, Colour, 16mm, 24 mins)
Accession Number: 1975.0100
Sponsor: Telesat Canada
Producer: Crawley Films
Holding Institution: Library and Archives Canada (16mm, VHS, Digibeta)
Description: Anik presents the history of satellite communication in Canada. Focusing primarily on its role in the Canadian north, it discusses the importance of this system in establishing a national communication system across the country. The film offers a detailed account the satellite Anik I, launched first in November of 1972. It describes its technical operations, design, manufacture, and importance. In addition, Anik also provides an overview of Telesat Canada, a Crown corporation created in 1969 to develop and support satellite communication in the country. The film insists that Canada is a world leader in the use of geostationary satellites, pointing out the fact that it is the first to use such a system for domestic communication.
Commentary: Anik would be relevant to scholars interested in Canadian television from the perspective of technology, policy, and especially infrastructure. Canada’s expansive geography poses distinct challenges to the establishment of national communication systems which reach all parts of the country. Moreover, the histories of colonialism and operations of capitalism have meant that the Canadian north has often been neglected in national infrastructure projects. This film provides an account of an attempt to use satellite technologies to overcome geographic distance and bring television to all parts of the country. In doing so, it provides a commentary—both implicit and explicit—on the links between nationalism, communication, and technology, as well as the perceptions of television’s power and the Canadian north.
CESIF Link: Anik

Breaking Through

(1981, English, Sound, 27 mins)
Accession Number: 1981.0022
Producers: Women’s Workshop; Kem Murch
Director: Janine Monatis
Holding Institutions: University of Waterloo, Waterloo (16mm); York University, Toronto (16mm)
Description: Breaking Through is a feminist film that profiles a career training program dedicated to help women break into male-dominated fields, including carpentry, plumbing, welding, mechanics, tool inspection, microelectronics, and (especially relevant for this prompt) television repair. The profiled program takes a wholistic approach to vocational guidance. It aims to teach women to be more self-assertive and overcome fears of pursuing trade careers—fears which stem often from gendered norms and social conditioning. The film presents different aspects of the program’s curriculum in which woman are taught self-defensive and engage in fitness activities. They participate in role-playing and mock interviews in an effort practice self-assertion and build confidence. In addition, women already working in these trades share their experiences and teach the program’s participants. The film argues that women would be accepted into these industries and could likely prove to be even more competent and hardworking than their male colleagues.
Commentary: This film would be of interest to researchers with a specific investment both in television as a technological object and the practice of television repair. Though television repair is only a small part of this film, its framing as part of a gendered labour practice is worth exploring. Indeed, Breaking Through will generally be relevant to scholars studying gender, labour, and feminist media. The film is a product of the feminist movement and its approach to gender and the workforce. It also was written and produced by video artist Kem Murch, whose work has been profiled at the National Gallery of Canada and archived at V Tape.
CESIF Link: Breaking Through

The Challenge of Change

(1975, English, French, Sound, Colour, 16mm, 21 mins)
Accession Number: 1975.0099
Producer: Crawley Films
Holding Institution: Library and Archives Canada (16mm, VHS, Digibeta)
Description: The Challenge of Change is a promotional film for Bell Canada. It asserts the company’s capacity and readiness to responding the ever-evolving needs of their customers. The film presents a variety of shots of its employees, including individuals located across the country and at all levels of the company, engaged a range of different technical activities. Sequences show the construction of rural communication infrastructure, test centres, the CN tower, computers, and various switching systems, including television switching.
Commentary: The Challenge of Change may appeal to scholars investigating television’s technical operations and infrastructure. Rather than focusing on people’s television consumption, this film shows television as part of a broader communication system operated and innovated by Bell Canada. It represents television as part a site of labour, revealing parts of its history sometimes obscured by its dominant identity as a consumer technology whose technical underpinnings and infrastructure are not always immediately apparent.
CESIF Link: The Challenge of Change

Cours audio-visuel de Français, langue seconde

(1970, French, Sound, Black and White, 16mm, 46 mins)
Accession Number: 1970.0041
Producer: Sir George Williams University
Holding Institution: Concordia University, Montreal (16mm)
Description: Cours audio-visuel de Français, langue seconde profiles the development of a televised French language class delivered at delivered at Sir George Williams University, precursor to Concordia University, by Prof. Gilbert Taggart. The film focuses on the governing pedagogical principles and teaching techniques deployed in the course. It displays selections of class lessons and examples of assigned exercises, highlighting the applications of television technology to language learning.   
Commentary: This film is relevant to researchers invested in educational television. In particular, it would be of interest to those studying television’s use in the classroom and as either a supplement to or substitution for in-person instruction. Today, in particular, given the rise of audiovisual instruction and e-learning practices, this film might be especially pertinent when thinking through the histories and discourses of media and pedagogy.
CESIF Link: Cours audio-visuel de Français, langue seconde

Direct Observation of the Flow of Molten Steel in Sand Moulds, Part One: Horizontal Gating Systems for Steel Castings (X-Ray Television Fluroscopy)

(1973, English, French, Sound, Black and White, 16mm, 27 mins)
Accession Number: 1973.0084
Sponsor: Physical Metallurgy Research Laboratories  
Producer: Crawley Films
Holding Institution: Library and Archives Canada (16mm)
Description: This highly technical film examines the use of X-Ray Television Fluroscopy in examining the flow of molten steel in sand moulds. It explains the science behind and operation of the x-ray technique in a short, animated sequence. It also shows how the x-rays of the flows are captured on film and videotape, providing an in-depth presentation of different problems encountered with the flow within various moulds revealed by the x-ray, as well as showing their adjustments and the analysis of subsequent flows. Eventually, the scientists select the best design to facilitate flow.
Commentary: Direct Observation of the Flow of Molten Steel in Sand Moulds provides an example of how television was incorporated into science and industry. While not about television per se, the film demonstrates the ways in which the technology was deployed as a scientific instrument, becoming an important element in industry and research.
CESIF Link: Direct Observation of the Flow of Molten Steel in Sand Moulds, Part One: Horizontal Gating Systems for Steel Castings (X-Ray Television Fluroscopy)

L’éducation au Québec

(1971, French, Sound, Colour, 16mm, 15 mins)
Accession Number: 1971.0068
Sponsor: Gouvernement du Québec : Ministère de l’Éducation
Producer: Office du film du Québec
Director: Jacques Blain
Holding Institutions: L’Office du film du Québec (16mm); La Cinémathèque Québécoise, Montreal
Description: L’éducation au Québec provides an overview of the provincial school system. It describes the different stages of Quebec education from kindergarten to elementary school to secondary school. The film also includes a discussion of recent educational innovations, concluding with educational television.
Commentary: Although there is not much information available, this film would likely be of interest to researchers studying educational television. By placing television in the context of the Québec school system at large, the film gives scholars a sense of the how the government understood the medium as a part of the province’s educational agenda.
CESIF Link: L’éducation au Québec

Firestone Sales Presentation

(1965, English, Sound, Black and White, 35mm)
Accession Number: 1965.0075
Producer: Williams Drege and Hill
Holding Institution: Library and Archives Canada (35mm)
Description: Firestone Sales Presentation outlines the promotional strategy for the Firestone tire company. The film documents the 1965 “Firestone dinner meeting” in which the company’s head office explains the advertising campaigns and sales techniques for the next year to its associate dealers.  The film describes the company’s print and radio campaigns, as well the planned TV ads starring Jackie Gleason, which will be featured on a variety of different programs, including shows about country music, Wide World of Sports,  and The Jackie Gleason Show. The film outlines Firestone’s central promotional plans such as the “may we install your winter tires” campaign, free rims, tire warrantees, and a promotion tie-in with Julie Andrews’ forthcoming Christmas album.
Commentary: Although television is only a small part of Firestone Sales Presentation, the film may appeal to TV scholars. In particular, the sequence presenting Firestone’s television advertising campaign could be relevant to research into television entertainment, American broadcast history, television stardom, and advertising. The film offers compelling source material for anyone analyzing how television and TV advertising tactics were understood within a company’s internal communications. Firestone’s reliance on the star presence of Jackie Gleason (of The Honeymooners fame), their choice of sports and variety programs on which to showcase their products, and the ways in which the head office describe their television strategy each offer rich ground for examination. Indeed, Firestone Sales Presentation, though not explicitly about television, offers an interesting site for research into the relationships between television discourse, advertising discourse, celebrity, and the class and gender dynamics of each.  
CESIF Link: Firestone Sales Presentation

Flip City… The Psychotropics and You

(1971, English, Sound, 45 mins)
Accession Number: 1971.0012
Producers: Bushnell Communications, Harry Fischback, Toby Fyfe
Director: Harry Fischback
Holding Institution: University of Waterloo, Waterloo (16mm)
Description: Flip City examines drugs—their use, abuse, and the information/misinformation disseminated about them—from a variety of different angles. Produced in Ottawa, it interviews both Ottawa-based academics, policy makers, students, and frontline workers about drugs, showcasing their different perspectives. The film provides statistical information about drug and drug use in Canada, explaining the quantity of drugs imported annually, summarizing studies on the correlation between drug use and religious belief, and presenting the rates of alcoholism amongst Canadians. Academics present their research on drug effects and information about their social and psychological impacts. Students describe ambivalent feelings towards drugs, sometimes critiquing them, sometimes describing the feeling of taking them, and other times critiquing the tendency to scare people away from drug use. The film argues that as a society, we need to become more informed about drugs and their impacts. It posits that young people’s desire to experiment with drugs stems from a wish to participate in the adult world. Flip City discusses the prevalence of television in promoting drugs to young people and suggests that perhaps what we really need to consider is why people choose to take drugs in the first place.
Commentary: Though television is only a small part of Flip City, the way in which it emerges is interesting. In this film, television is presented as a source of dangerous misinformation, a site through which young people gain a troubling misperception about drugs and their effects. One of the students interviewed in the film refers to television as a kind of electronic babysitter. As such, young people presumably grew up watching TV, often unsupervised. The film contends that during these hours spent in front of their consoles they were often presented with advertisements and programs that described drugs as the solution to a wide variety of different problems and ailments. It argues that this messaging becomes ingrained in children, teaching them to conceptualize drugs as a mode of self-help. This messaging echoes long standing anxiety about children and television, embodying the “media effects” approach to the study of communication. Given this, Flip City would be of relevance to scholars interested in historical discourses of children and television, media effects research, and of course, the representation of drugs on television.
CESIF Link: Flip City… The Psychotropics and You

The George Retlaff Story

(1972, English, Sound, Colour, 16mm, 25 mins)
Accession Number: 1972.0003
Producer: Briston Films : Les Films Briston
Holding Institution: Library and Archives Canada (16mm, VHS, Digibeta)
Description: The George Retlaff Story is a biographic documentary on life and career of Canadian sports TV producer George Retlaff. The film tells the story of the Retlaff family who immigrated to Winnipeg from Germany in the 1920s. It describes Retlaff’s early career as a radio technician and his move to Toronto where he became the first producer for the Hockney Night in Canada television program. The film profiles Retlaff’s distinguished career in which he covered not only hockey, but a wide range of different sports including the Olympics and the Canadian Open Golf Championship. This biographical information is supplemented by interviews with Retlaff’s family and coworkers.
Commentary: The George Retlaff Story is relevant to researchers interested in broadcast history. In particular, the film will appeal in particular to those studying sports broadcasting, Canadian broadcasting, and the CBC.
CESIF Link: The George Retlaff Story

I Am a Country

(1968, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, Sound, 26 mins)
Accession Number: 1968.0054
Sponsors: National Film Board of Canada : Office national du film du Canada; Department of Trade and Commerce
Producer: Crawley Films
Director: Herb Taylor
Distributors: National Film Board of Canada : Office national du film du Canada; Department of Trade and Commerce
Holding Institution: Library and Archives Canada (16mm, VHS, Digibeta)
Description: I Am a Country presents a showcase of different products and technologies manufactured and developed in Canada. The film displays a wide range of different products and includes everything from airplanes to communication equipment to clothing to sporting goods to bathtubs. The film not only presents the objects but displays them in action. Planes take off and land, the Alouette satellite orbits, a computer processes, clothes are worn in a fashion show, and sporting goods are shown in use. In addition, the process of manufacture and construction is displayed. There are factories mid-operation, scenes of petroleum production, and many shots of everyday city life. The film unites these varied operations under the collective banner of Canada, showing them all as part of national life.
Commentary: Television appears only minimally within this film. An early sequence in the film showcases a variety different communication technology, including switching equipment, microwave tower, and the Alouette satellite. In addition, I Am a Country includes shots of television units broadcasting an event occurring outside and a sequence in which a ballerina dancing is crosscut with a woman looking at her TV set. In this film, television is positioned as one element of Canadian’s economic and technological might. It is framed alongside communication infrastructure, artistic performances, labour, and machinery.
Bibliography:
Crawley Films, Free Films: Sources of Free 16mm Sponsored Films in Canada (Ottawa: Crawley Films, April 1969), 37.
CESIF Link: I Am a Country

Journey of a News Story

(1979, English, Sound, Colour, 16mm, 30 mins)
Accession Number: 1979.0034
Producer: University of Calgary
Holding Institution: University of Calgary, Calgary (16mm)
Description: Journey of a News Story documents how television news is produced in Canada. It offers a comparative exploration of news reporting, contrasting how three different television stations depicted the news over the course of a single day. The film presents each station’s distinct approach, comparing and contrasting their treatment of current events. In addition, Journey of a News Story also describes the different roles essential to the production of TV news, including the producer, director, editor, and reporter.
Commentary: This film would be of interest to researchers studying television news. Its efforts to compare and contrast news coverage across competing stations is of particular note. Scholars with expertise in the critical analysis of news might be interested in how an educational film performs this type of analysis—what they observe and what they might neglect. And production studies scholars might be interested in the way the film presents the ‘behind the scenes’ of the television news studio, describing the roles of those involved, and documenting the production process.
CESIF Link: Journey of a News Story

Media - Massaging the Mind

(1972, English, Sound, Colour, 24 mins)
Accession Number: 1972.0016
Producer: Hobel-Leiterman Productions
Holding Institution: Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal (16mm)
Related Title: “Towards the Year 2000” (series)
Description: Media - Massaging the Mind explores various transformations within and the impact of the media. The film focuses on the recent technical and industrial developments, such as cable television, holograms, laser broadcasts, portable video, the specialization of print media, and the importance of image production in political campaigns. Media - Massaging the Mind is particularly interested in the growth of electronic news media, the proliferation of television news, and the impact these transformations will have on politics. The film is part of the series: “Towards the Year 2000.”
Commentary: This film is both an artifact and presentation of television history. It offers a compelling view of how the future of the media industry, including television and electronic news, was imagined in the 1970s. Its sequences on new televisual technologies offer compelling examples of the ways in which the boundaries of television were transforming in the 1960s and 70s. Moreover, the film’s focus on news media and TV image production provide examples of how individuals envisioned the medium’s impact on social and political life. Moreover, the film’s title, a pun on Marshall McLuhan’s famous axiom, “the medium is the message,” locates its reflections on television with the cultural and scholarly milieu of Cold War media theory. As such, the film offers a rich opportunity for analysis to a wide array of TV scholars. In particular, researchers who are not merely interested in what television was but also how people imagined its possibilities, potentials, and futurity will find Media - Massaging the Mind especially pertinent to their research.  
Bibliography:
Hellman, Mary, Popular Culture: Mirror of American Life. (California University: San Diego, 1977).
Klempner, Irving M., Audiovisual Materials in Support of Information Science Curricula; An Annotated Listing with Subject Index. (School of Library and Information Science, State University of New York at Albany: Albany, 1977).
CESIF Link: Media - Massaging the Mind

Mirror, Mirror: An Advertiser’s Scrapbook

(1983, English, Sound, Colour, 26 mins)

Mirror, Mirror: An Advertiser’s Scrapbook, 1983

Accession Number: 1983.0017
Producers: Don Hopkins, Playing with Time, David Springbett, Linda Schuyler, Kit Hood
Directors: Kit Hood, Linda Schuyler
Distributors: National Film Board of Canada : Office national du film du Canada; Ranfilm
Holding Institutions: Carleton University, Ottawa (VHS); Library and Archives Canada (3/4” Videotape); York University, Toronto (16mm)
Description: Mirror, Mirror tells the story of a family across three generations using the imagery, sounds, and slogans of advertising. With a slightly sardonic tone, the narrator begins the film at the turn of the century with “grandfather” and “grandmother,” whose experience of World War I, the 1920s, and the great depression are all told through magazine advertisements. There are sequences discussing the products they purchase, the life they live, and the values they espouse—all of which can be found in the Canadian promotional campaigns. Mirror, Mirror follows up the story of the grandparents with the narrative of the parents. This sequence again tells of historical events and changing cultural contexts through advertising. The film presents World War II, the post-war suburban dream (replete with an abundance of home appliances and an investment in the disposable), and hints at the rise of the counterculture of the 1960s and 70s. In this sequence, the arrival of television highlighted, singled out as an important development both for Canadians and for Canadian advertising. After the narrator finishes talking about her parents, she moves on to her own story. Using the language and imagery of advertising, she describes how her beliefs differ from those of her parents. She not only starts a family, but builds career, and expresses an investment in durability and environmental politics. The film argues that both advertising and individuals reflect the cultural and social values of their time and place.
Commentary: The sequence in the middle of Mirror, Mirror (12:58) on the coming of television will be of particular interest to TV historians. This sequence shows an early print advertisement for a television console, forming a compelling Canadian example of the promotional discourses mapped in books like Lynn Spigel’s Make Room for TV. In addition, it presents a clip from a black and white television commercial, noting TV’s role in expanding the available media and forms for advertising. Indeed, even after this sequence is over, the rest of the film, which had previously been predominately concerned with print advertisements, now mixes in television commercials, using these clips to tell the rest of the film’s narrative.
Notes: Kit Hood and Linda Schuyler were also the creators of the Degrassi series.
Watch Online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU12BqOf8hw
CESIF Link: Mirror, Mirror: An Advertiser’s Scrapbook

Of Computers and Television in Education: COMIT

(1978, English, 16 mins)
Accession Number: 1978.0046
Producers: IBM Canada, Pete Bikaunieks, Wendy Walgate
Director: Pete Bikaunieks
Holding Institution: University of Waterloo, Waterloo (16mm)
Description: Of Computers and Television in Education: COMIT discusses the potential uses of computers and television for education. It profiles COMIT (Computerized Multimedia Instructional Television), an experimental educational technology system developed conjointly by IBM and the University of Waterloo. COMIT unites computing with television, using video, TV monitors, IBM keyboards, and sonic pens. The film demonstrates the system’s sophisticated graphics and data processing capacities. It argues that television and computers, especially when joined together in the COMIT system, embody an important innovation to students’ learning, providing them with more agency and interactivity. Interviewing University Program Director Dr. John Moore, the film contends that COMIT is an essential leap forward in the development of educational technology, perhaps even leading to new possibilities for at-home learning.
Commentary: This film offers a valuable resource for researchers interested in the history of television in education. It showcases the technical functions and uses of television in the classroom and it provides an example of how television was conceived as an important educational medium, whose technology could be deployed in a useful way for instructors and students. In addition, this film also offers an interesting early example of the convergence between television media and digital media. Indeed, the COMIT system combines computer processing and televisual display. As such, scholars examining the history of media convergence or the relationship between TV and the digital might find Of Computers and Television in Education: COMIT an interesting object of study.  
CESIF Link: Of Computers and Television in Education: COMIT

The Office of Prime Minister

(1962-1968, English, Sound, Black and White, 16mm, 57 mins)
Accession Number: 1962.0022
Sponsor: Manufacturers Life Insurance Co.
Producers: Crawley Films, James W. Turpie
Director: James W. Turpie
Distributors: Modern Talking Picture Service, Manufacturers Life Insurance Co.
Holding Institutions: Langara College, Vancouver (VHS); Library and Archives Canada (16mm); York University, Toronto (16mm)
Alternate Title: The Office of the Prime Minister
Description: The Office of Prime Minister provides an in-depth look at the position of Prime Minister in Canada. It offers a history of the position, describing its constitutional basis, outlining moments of crisis, and providing accounts of the different individuals who have filled that role since Canadian Confederation. The film interrogates the various qualities that make a good prime minister and discusses the challenged faced members of the office—including the pressures of television. Hosted and narrated by Patrick Watson, The Office of Prime Minister includes interviews with John Diefenbaker and Lester B. Pearson.
Commentary: The film contains a discussion of the impact of television on the role of the Prime Minister which could be of particular interest to TV scholars. In particular, researchers of the relationship between media and politics might find this film a compelling site of analysis. Though only a small portion of The Office of Prime Minister, the film’s discussion of television provides a potentially revealing view of how politicians themselves conceived television and how they saw its effects personally on social and political life.
Bibliography:
Crawley Films, Free Films: Sources of Free 16mm Sponsored Films in Canada (Ottawa: Crawley Films, April 1969), 26.
CESIF Link: The Office of Prime Minister

Satellite Communications Canada

(1967, English, French, Sound, 13 mins)
Accession Number: 1967.0044
Sponsor: Northern Electric
Producers: Crawley Films, Margaret Marshall
Director: Paul Harris
Holding Institution: Library and Archives Canada
Description: Satellite Communications Canada presents the manufacture and trial of a prototype ground antenna in Bonchette, Quebec. The film’s central aim is to promote the importance of satellites and microwave relay systems as essential communication tools in Canada. In particular, they are that these two systems are the most pragmatic—technically and financially—for ensuring the successful operations of a communication infrastructure, especially in the Arctic.  
Commentary: This film is relevant for scholars interested in the history of satellite communication in Canadian and efforts to ensure TV access in the North. More generally, Satellite Communications Canada will be of interest generally to researchers taking an infrastructural approach to television studies.
CESIF Link: Satellite Communications Canada

To The Top

(1976-1977, English, French, Sound, Colour, 16mm, 28 mins)
Accession Number: 1976.0088
Sponsor: CN Tower
Producers: Westminster Films, Donald Haldane
Director: Keith Harley
Holding Institution: Library and Archives Canada (16mm)
Related Title: Tour de force (French version)
Description: To The Top documents the construction and operations of the CN Tower—the 552 meter communication tower in downtown Toronto. The film describes the entire process of building the tower, from testing the soil on in which its foundations were laid to large scale excavations required in its construction to the final attaching of the communication mast which had to be performed by helicopter. The film celebrates this landmark, praising not only its boon to TV and radio communication in Canada, but also its status as an important national landmark, which at the time of the film’s production was the world’s largest free-standing structure.
Commentary: Although television itself is only of secondary importance in To The Top, this film would still be of interest to researchers studying the history of television infrastructure in Canada. Indeed, the film’s focus on the CN Tower itself as a landmark and site of architectural import rather than on its primary function as a piece of Canadian communication infrastructure is worth noting in and of itself.
CESIF Link: To The Top

The World Is Watching

(1987-1988, English, Sound, Colour, 59 mins)
Accession Number: 1988.0007
Producers: Investigative Productions, Harold Crooks, Jim Monro, Peter Raymont
Distributor: National Film Board of Canada : Office national du film Canada  
Holding Institutions: Ryerson University, Toronto (VHS); University of Guelph, Guelph (VHS); University of Western Ontario, London (VHS); York University (16mm, VHS).
Description: The World Is Watching documents the process of making the news and the restrictions and limits that shape what stories journalists can tell. The film focuses on a group of journalists on assignment in Nicaragua, covering the November 1987 negotiations for the Arias Peace Plan. The film focuses on journals from different countries, working in different media, including ABC Television’s Peter Jennings and John Quinones, Newsweek photographer Bill Gentile, The Boston Globe’s Randolph Ryan, Liberation’s Edith Coron, and ITN Television News’ John Snow. It explores the realities of the news business along with the biases and distortions that are inevitably produced by it.  
Commentary: The World Is Watching would be a valuable resource to anyone studying television news. It provides an important behind the scenes look at the creation of news discourse and the processes, operational constraints, and biases that repeated shape its production of “truth.” Moreover, the film also takes a comparative approach both across discrete media and across different countries. As such, it might also be relevant to researchers performing comparative analyses of the news media.
CESIF Link: The World Is Watching


Non-CESIF Films Relevant for Researchers: NFB Films


Related Published Works

Bredin, Marian, Scott Henderson, and Sarah A. Matheson, eds. Canadian Television: Text and Context. Waterloo: Wilfred-Laurier Press, 2012.

Collins, Richard. Culture, Communication, and National Identity: The Case of Canadian Television. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990.

Hughes, Kit. Television at Work: Industrial Media and American Labor. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020.

Parks, Lisa, and Nicole Starosielski. Signal Traffic: Critical Studies of Media Infrastructures. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2017.

Spigel, Lynn. Make Room for TV: Television and the Family Ideal in Postwar America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.