Fighting for Access: ABC's 1965–66 Feud with NASA

Abstract

This article examines the American Broadcasting Company's dissatisfaction with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during 1965 and 1966, as voiced in a series of critical speeches by the president of the network's news division, Elmer W. Lower. Such public criticism was highly unusual at a time when NASA and the television networks shared a symbiotic relationship and American space exploration was widely celebrated. ABC's unhappiness stemmed in part from what its news division president deemed as limited access to information as well as the absence of television cameras in the Gemini space vehicles. NASA cited technical reasons for keeping television cameras out of the Gemini capsules. However, this article also cites astronaut resistance as a contributing factor to the absence of onboard television cameras. A difficult personal relationship between ABC's space correspondent and the space agency's director of public affairs may have further motivated ABC's criticism of NASA.