As one commentator put it,

[s]uppose The New York Times were
available for twenty-four hours and
was then withdrawn by management,
never to be seen again. Scholars, and
certainly television journalists, who
rely heavily on print for their own
information, would be incensed. Yet
we are expected to accept the idea
that television news has no past that
it must account for, as do other
media.1

The reasons for preserving and analyzing

broadcast programming are many and varied. They include:

review for educational and historical

purposes

research and analysis

1.

requirements regarding the right to reply

and equal opportunities for candidates in political campaigns

ensuring that advertisements and video

news releases are in fact broadcast as

agreed

as a safeguard against, or to provide
evidence in, libel suits.

Anne Rawley-Saldich, "Access to Television," Columbia
Journalism Review, November/December 1976.

Without broadcast monitoring services, none of

these functions could be carried out as easily or with as much assurance. Broadcasters themselves do not provide immediate, nationwide clipping services. In fact, most broadcasters refuse to provide segments of their

programming, are unable to do so, or do so only arbitrarily.

Certainly, clients of monitoring services cannot watch all broadcasts, in all relevant viewing areas, on their own. In fact, the public generally has little, if any, advance warning of when and where a particular issue will be the subject of a news broadcast.

For many

corporations, government departments and individuals, broadcast monitoring services are the only way of keeping track of programming of importance to them.

Who Uses Broadcast Monitoring Services?

Broadcast monitoring services serve a broad

range of clients and satisfy a great variety of needs:

the Internal Revenue Service

Congressional offices. Broadcast

monitoring services assist the federal

government in carrying out many essential

functions, from criminal investigations to disaster relief efforts. Members of

Congress use monitoring services to keep abreast of issues of importance to their

evaluate their performance and

corporate image, as well as the

effectiveness of their news

releases.

o Charitable institutions

Charitable institutions, such as the

American Cancer Society, the United

Way, UNICEF, and the American Red Cross, use monitoring services to evaluate the scope and nature of community needs and to follow

broadcast coverage of fundraising

events.

o State and local governments

At the state and local level,

broadcast monitoring services are used

regularly by government officials,

school boards, hospitals and police departments.

o Political candidates.

Both national and local candidates for

political office use broadcast

monitoring services to

assess public opinion

ensure compliance with FCC

regulations

keep informed about issues and

current events in their

communities or nationwide.

o Universities

Educational and research institutions

are among the most important users of broadcast monitoring services. Some services donate programs of the most newsworthy events to universities and libraries for archival purposes.

Universities also use programs that are

donated or purchased for research,

including the study of journalism.

Monitoring services are especially

invaluable for educators and researchers because most broadcasters destroy their programming soon after it is broadcast.

o Video news release companies Producers of video news releases,

which are used by news stations across

the country, need monitoring services

to learn how, and in what context,