TV is bigger than any story it reports. It's the greatest

Hear the commanding words of Fred W. Friendly, pioneer of broadcast journalism: “TV is bigger than any story it reports. It’s the greatest teaching tool since the printing press.” In this declaration lies both wonder and warning. Friendly, who shaped the voice of television news alongside Edward R. Murrow, understood the immense power of this glowing box that entered every home. He saw that television was not merely a messenger of events, but itself a force greater than any single tale it carried — shaping perception, stirring emotion, and instructing entire nations at once.

When Friendly says that TV is bigger than any story, he means that the medium transforms the message. A small event, when carried by the screen into millions of living rooms, becomes monumental. The assassination of a president, the march of protesters, the landing of men on the moon — these were not simply stories, they were shared experiences, magnified by the screen, engraved into the consciousness of the people. Just as fire is greater than the wood it burns, so television is greater than the words it transmits, for it unites hearts in a single flame.

The comparison to the printing press is no accident. When Gutenberg’s invention spread across Europe, it shattered ignorance, broke the monopoly of kings and priests, and armed ordinary souls with knowledge. The Reformation, the Enlightenment, the birth of democracy itself — all were carried on printed pages. Friendly saw in television a similar revolution: the ability to educate, to awaken, to deliver truth to millions in an instant. It was, in his eyes, not only entertainment but a sacred teaching tool, as transformative in its age as the press had been in its own.

History bears witness to this truth. In 1960, the first televised presidential debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon revealed the power of the screen. Those who heard the debate on radio thought Nixon the victor; those who watched on television saw Kennedy’s composure, his vitality, his presence — and the election shifted. Here the story itself was less decisive than the medium that carried it. TV was indeed bigger than the story, for it revealed that perception itself had become the battlefield of politics.

Yet Friendly’s words carry also a shadow of caution. If TV is the greatest teaching tool, then what it teaches must be weighed with reverence. Like the printing press, which spread both wisdom and poison, television holds within it the power to uplift or to corrupt, to enlighten or to distract. It can bring the truth of civil rights into the homes of the indifferent, but it can also lull the mind into passivity with endless noise. The greatness of the tool demands the greatness of its stewards.

The lesson, then, is this: do not underestimate the power of the medium. Treat television not as mere amusement, but as a classroom, a pulpit, a teacher of the masses. Demand of it truth, integrity, depth — for what it teaches, it teaches to all. And remember also your own responsibility: to watch with discernment, to ask, “What lesson is this imparting? What spirit is this instilling?” For if the medium is vast, the student must also be vigilant.

Practical action lies close at hand. Use the screen to learn, not only to consume. Choose programs that awaken thought, not only those that numb it. Support journalism that seeks truth rather than spectacle. And if you ever have the chance to create, to broadcast, to tell a story through TV or any modern medium, remember the weight of Friendly’s words: you are not only reporting a story, you are teaching a people.

So let this truth echo in your heart: “TV is bigger than any story it reports. It’s the greatest teaching tool since the printing press.” See the screen not as a trivial thing, but as a mighty river that shapes the land through which it flows. May we guide its waters toward wisdom, so that future generations drink not from a poisoned stream, but from a fountain of truth.