Tom Shales Quotes

I would let my kids watch this stuff way before I'd let them watch something like 'Full House' that I think would make them stupid.

I just am a huge fan of PBS. They've taken great risks from great shows.

That test should not be about ratings. What should weigh is the knowledge that a public broadcaster delivers programmes that matter.

There are not the same factual shows anymore - children's TV has become much more trivial.

I was only allowed only to watch public television until I was 12 years old.

I do think the BBC could do more, but I've always thought the BBC could do more - I think there should be more arts programmes full stop.

I have to say, I have never watched 'Infowars.' I know that they say zany things that are patently untrue. But I also think that MSNBC says zany things that are patently untrue.

If you go to go to countries in Europe or Asia or even Canada, even with all the Internet and cable TV and satellite, public systems tend to be the most popular stations in the countries. In some countries like Norway and Germany, public stations are, if anything, more popular than ever as people see what Rupert Murdoch's got in store for them in the commercial stations.

One of the things that I have my students do is to take a look at English-language newspapers from all around the world in order to see the different ways in which the same story might be told.

There's a whole world of people out here whose experiences are not being reflected in the media that they're reading. And that does affect the way we view ourselves... and the people we think we can be.

When I meet parents in my children's school, they say there aren't good films for kids to watch. I wonder about the lack of such films too. What do my kids watch?

We need to boycott the mainstream media, and we need to go online, and we need to find credible news sources.

I have only two conditions to choose a project - content with substance and space to perform.

People in TV get too worried about making things accessible but I don't think all of the viewing population want everything to be sanitised and dumbed down.

Prestige podcasts, like prestige television shows, tend to have an audience that believes itself literate, well-informed, and reasonable. Listening to podcasts, in this model, is a form of virtue.

American TV news is much more sophisticated. I think that American TV networks, it looks like, they invest a lot into news.

Often, entertainment goes deeper, in terms of ideas, than the newspapers.

I love to watch documentaries on The History Channel and TLC.

I think there's enough TV that makes people feel dumb out there.

Print and television journalism are very different, and it's not like one is better than the other.

Following America's lead, I think British TV is fantastic.

Shows with good content are important, and not the genre.

I never actually watched 'Teletubbies.' Maybe I missed out.

The Village Voice gave me an outlet. They encouraged writers to publish idiosyncratic, intellectually ambitious journalism in voices that ranged from demonic to highfalutin. And they paid me well once the magazine was unionized. Getting paid is motivational.

The more I watched cable, the more I realized the value of newspapers.