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6 the purchase of video-tape cameras any several organizational units within the Smithsonian Institution has been authorized; a workshop for Smithsonian staff members interested in learning more about the potentials of half-inch video tape equipment has been developed; Radio Smithsonian, heard on about 90 stations across the nation, has purchased new technical equipment making it easier to reach more stations; an inventory of motion picture film held by the Institution is underway to determine its potential for future uses; and a proposed anthropological film archives to collect ethnographic films from throughout the world is being assessed. We hope that support will be gained to increase our own motion picture footage holdings many times since such film can be used a number of ways in the development of learning materials. 4. [[underline]] Question: What is the interest of the Smithsonian Institution in the field of prime-time network television?[[/underlined]] [[underlined]]Answer:[[/underlined]]The Smithsonian is a national institution, with an obligation to seek ways to reach out beyond the City of Washington and the confines of the museums. It has done so through its publication program, through the use of radio, through its successful national magazine and by lectures and seminars. Television is a further powerful means of communication in which we have gained some experience in the past and which we hope to utilize in more important ways to carry out the Institution's mandate for the diffusion of knowledge. It appears that the structure of the mass media in the United States will be altered dramatically in the next two decades. The Smithsonian hopes to be prepared to respond to the opportunities that certainly will develop during this period and it views the immediate proposals for commercial television ventures as a means toward preparation for that end.
