TV keeps broadcasting through WW2

[Dunash]

The BBC & Deutsche Rundfunk both started broadcasting TV in 1936. In OTL it was not used at all during the war.
WI television sets had been more much more widely distributed before the war and they kept on broadcasting as a propaganda tool, so that people would be able to watch Pathe News & Deutsche Wochenschau in their own homes, as well as Churchill addressing Parliament & Hitler the Reichstag live, instead of having to go to the local fleapit? Although the screens were only 7" square and the quality was marginal, would it have had any social impact on the war?

 

[Tyr]

Not really, they would probally have a negative impact due to less resources for cinema and radio. It was only really the rich and crazy who had TVs.

 

[Melvin Loh]

VW-like effect on homefront populations in Western countries ?

Could the largescale presence of TV during WWII have had negative effects on the war efforts of Western democracies, in a similar manner as occurred during the VW ? Or would it possibly have acted in the opposite manner, by perhaps reinforcing the wartime populace's perspectives on why the war was being fought ? Say, if ppl were able to view on TV footage of Jap atrocities in the Pacific, or evidence of the Final Solution ?

 

[carlton_bach]

Could the largescale presence of TV during WWII have had negative effects on the war efforts of Western democracies, in a similar manner as occurred during the VW ? Or would it possibly have acted in the opposite manner, by perhaps reinforcing the wartime populace's perspectives on why the war was being fought ? Say, if ppl were able to view on TV footage of Jap atrocities in the Pacific, or evidence of the Final Solution ?

Only with the right kind of technology being available. TV at the time was broadcast live from soundstages in studios and the best they could do in terms of showing footage was to play film through a dedicated type of projector that beamed it into a TV camera. That still gives whatever controlling agency there is the power to stop unwanted images from outside intruding. Live broadcasts from the battlefield or getting controversial pictures 'in the can' for later broadcast would have been next to impossible. I would expect TV to reinforce the existing views of the war, broadcasting light entertainment and carefully vetted newsreel footage. It was only when the technology and the will appeared on thescene that reporters showed the gruesome reality of war, or reported critically on government policy. Even with the tech available, I'm not sure WWII would see the will. Remember, when TIME magazine showed pictures of mutilated US dead in 1944 it was inundated with letters from readers lambasting the editors for undermining the morale of the people.