Television is among one of the most useful inventions ever made in the history of mankind. It serves various purposes for various people and is an essential part of our life. Well, it won’t be wrong to say that television is our major source of entertainment, and all the madness around it began way before mobile phones, computers and theatres were a thing. On November 21, 2019, i.e., tomorrow, everyone across the globe will be celebrating the World Television Day, a day observed to mark the importance of Television and the kind of roles it plays in influencing and affecting people.
History & Importance
It was in the year 1927 that a 21-year-old boy named Philo Taylor Farnsworth invented the world’s first electronic television. Until he was 14, he lived at home without electricity. During his high school days, Philo started ideating about a system that could capture moving images, change them into code and then move those images with radio waves to different voices. Years later, Philo transmitted the image of a dollar sign using his TV after a co-inventor asked, “When are we going to see some dollars from this thing?” Back then, neither of them would have thought that television will once become the medium for an international day.
It was on November 21-22 in the year 1996 that the United Nations organised the first World Television Forum. During the same, a group of eminent media personalities gathered to discuss the rapidly-increasing of television across the globe. It was during this forum that the UN leaders realised how a television holds the capability of bringing attention to conflicts, spread awareness on sensitive matters like a nation’s peace and security, and improve focus on social and economic matters. Television was acknowledged as a major source of information, channeling and affecting or influencing public opinion. Due to this event, the UN General Assembly declared November 21 as the World Television Day, mainly to observe its importance as a tool of education, entertainment and awareness.
image source: theglobaltvgroup.com