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213 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. ix (1941)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0213 and id is 1 raw text is: FOREWORD Six years ago, when THE ANNALS published an issue devoted to radio, it was noted in the Foreword that broadcasting had just passed into the beginnings of maturity. The original pioneering period had been completed, radio's economic structure had been fairly well established, its operation had been stabilized, and broadcasting had taken its place as one of the primary media of mass communication. The maturing process of the intervening six years has brought with it many im- portant developments. Whereas in 1935 news broadcasting was just becoming im- portant, today all of the great news services make their material available directly to radio stations and networks; the dissemination of news has become a primary broadcasting function. The full potency of radio as a medium for the discussion of public questions has been revealed during this period, and broadcasting has become an increasingly vital tool of the democratic processes. General program service also has increased in the wealth and variety of its offerings, and in the quality of its techniques. The period under consideration has also brought new problems. The use of radio as a medium for civic discussion has led to increasing interest in its mainte- nance as a free avenue for the dissemination of ideas and viewpoints. The matur- ing of the radio structure has given rise to new economic problems, and since 1936, when the first economic case was heard before the Federal Communications Com- mission, governmental regulation of radio has concerned itself increasingly with economic matters. At the present time, new inventions promise further sweeping changes in broad- casting service-changes which may not only materially affect our ways of getting information, but also may exert an important influence on our social and economic processes. Television, facsimile, and frequency modulation, when generally applied, may bring about changes as revolutionary as those initiated by the broadcasting of the Harding-Cox election returns a little over twenty years ago. The purpose of the current radio issue of THE ANNALs has been threefold. It has sought to trace the more important developments which have taken place in broadcasting since 1935; a section has been devoted to a discussion of some of the more important current problems facing radio; and, finally, an attempt has been made to appraise the social and economic significance of radio's new inventions- television, facsimile, and frequency modulation-with the hope that such discussion may be of assistance in shaping fundamental policy along the most constructive lines possible. HERMAN S. HETTINGER

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