Conference participants and Center staffmembers confront TV network representatives with tough questions on whether the networks' status as for-profit private enterprises inhibits their ability to present the news fairly, whether national television outlets offer adequate access for the presentation of minority and dissident opinions, and why network executives are viewed in such an unfavorable light by the public at large. Featuring Harry S. Ashmore, Rick J. Carlson, Reuven Frank, Harry Kalven, James Loper, Donald McDonald, Paul Porter, Lawrence Rogers, Richard Salant, Antonin Scalia, Ronald M. Segal, Eric Sevareid, and Thomas H. Wolf. Broadcasting and the First Amendment II. 1 tape. [Transcript 5:1]. [LC 73-762684].

The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions (CSDI) brought together many of the most capable and distinguished minds of the times to discuss vital issues facing American society of the day. Political and academic leaders, scientists, social scientists, legal scholars, journalists, theologians, labour and community leaders focused on topics such as peace and war, democracy, dissent, community action, ecology and the environment, elections and the electoral process, immigration, international relations, law and order, the media, race and ethnicity, and religion. Prominent participants included Senator Alan Cranston, Upton Sinclair, Milton Friedman, Mortimer Adler, Cesar Chavez, Aldous Huxley, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, Sander Vanocur, and Gunner Myrdal among many others.