“For almost forty years the country has had the benefit of network television news – not just its regularly scheduled news broadcasts, but its special coverage of elections, conventions, summit meetings, and those grim and terrible times when one of our leaders has been the victim of an assassin's bullet. The benefits which have come from an open reliable flow of information during a time of crisis are almost incalculable.

For a large and diverse nation based on a concept of concensus, it's been a remarkable service, all the more remarkable when you realize that this service has had to coexist on that small plate of glass in your home with car chases and sitcoms, with football games and soap operas. It moves from remarkable to amazing when you realize that the ultimate responsibility for the network news divisions has rested in the hands of the same businessmen who have shaped the rest of American television as it exists today.”

– Ed Joyce, former head of CBS