The following passage is excerpted from an article about television’s impact on politics.
the advent of television in the late 1940’s gave rise to the belief that a new era was opening in public communication. as frank stanton, president of the columbia broadcasting system, put it: “not even the sky is the limit.” one of the great contributions expected of television lay in its presumed capacity to inform and stimulate the political interests of the american electorate.
“television, with its penetration, its wide geographic distribution and impact, provides a new, direct, and sensitive link between washington and the people,” said dr. stanton. “the people have once more become the nation, as they have not been since the days when we were small enough each to know his elected representative. as we grew, we lost this feeling of direct contact—television has now restored it.”
as time has passed, events have seemed to give substance to this expectation. the televising of important congressional hearings, the national nominating conventions, and most recently the nixon-kennedy and other debates have appeared to make a novel contribution to the political life of the nation. large segments of the public have been given a new, immediate contact with political events. television has appeared to be fulfilling its early promise.
what are the 3 major topics and central idea statements for each topic?