The decade of the 1960's was a tumultuous period for the American polity, and thus far the 1970's have been equally so, if for different reasons. During these same years network news programs emerged as America's most used and most trusted source of information about national affairs. Taken together, these news programs have given us a dramatic and interpretive record of our time. Strange as it may seem, until 1968 no one—not even the networks themselves—maintained an archive of television news tapes. While an interested person could have reviewed past editions of newspapers and magazines at a local library, past television newscasts were not available for study until Vanderbilt University acted.

The Vanderbilt Television News Archive has videotaped the three networks' evening news programs off-the-air in Nashville since August, 1968. The archive has also taped other historic public affairs programs, including presidential nominating conventions, the Senate Watergate Hearings, and the Judiciary Committee's impeachment proceedings.

From the beginning Vanderbilt informed the networks that it was archiving this material because the public interest required that it be saved and made available for research.

In December, 1973, CBS brought suit against the university to stop the Vanderbilt effort. A trial may occur in the near future.