- Date:
- 1975 - present
- Areas Of Involvement:
- film
- radio
- broadcasting
- television
- Related People:
- William S. Paley
Paley Center for Media
News •
The Paley Center for Media was founded by William S. Paley in 1975 as the Museum of Broadcasting. It was first established to collect and preserve 20th-century radio and television broadcasts. The museum opened on November 9, 1976, in a converted office building located at 1 East 53rd Street in New York City. With a primary collection of 718 broadcasts, this was the first time that such a collection was made available to the public. This entry discusses the history, objectives, and programs of the Paley Center.
The museum was renamed the Museum of Television and Radio on March 26, 1991; in September of that year, the museum moved to the William S. Paley Building at 25 West 52nd Street in New York. Honoring William Paley’s legacy as the founder and director of the Columbia Broadcasting System, the new facilities allowed for the expansion of the museum’s holdings to accommodate a growing body of digital and cable programs. The Paley Center later operated a Beverly Hills facility, opened in 1996, but it left that location in 2020; public access to the Paley Archive in Los Angeles County is now provided through the Beverly Hills Public Library.
The Paley Center facilities provide access to over 160,000 television shows, commercials, and radio programs. This collection includes programs from over 70 countries, covering over a century of audiovisual material. At its New York museum and through designated archive-access sites, visitors can search and view selections from the Paley Archive; the center also presents screenings, exhibits, and public programs. The center provides exhibits, live-streamed events, interviews, and weekend screenings of videos from its archives at its New York museum and through selected public programs and archive-access partnerships. The center is continually growing its archival content as researchers and individuals donate new films and television and radio programs. Available archival content includes seminars and interviews with entertainers such as Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball, and Bob Hope, and cast members from shows such as Seinfeld (1989–1998), The Simpsons (1989–), and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (1999–2015). The center also has a growing library collection of televised daytime game shows.
" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">
In 2007, the museum changed its corporate name to the Paley Center for Media, recognizing the media’s profound influence in the formation of cultural values and its ability to rapidly disseminate documentation of critical events worldwide. While the museum was first established to preserve the artifacts of broadcast programming in radio and television, interactive media platforms such as YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, and Facebook have presented challenges and opportunities. The growth of streaming and online video services has made some older television programming more widely accessible, while also shifting the Paley Center’s role toward preservation, curation, research access, and public interpretation of media history. The center has repositioned its resources to assist with the critical evaluation of trends in multimedia programming and its influence on all facets of global culture.
Programs to engage key media constituencies include the Paley Media Council, a forum to inform media executives and creators by promoting discussion and interpretation of the current media landscape while anticipating emerging global trends and programming venues. Since 1995, the council has sponsored an invitation-only International Council Summit whose speakers and attendees include media company leaders and film and television producers. Past meetings have been held in China, South Africa, Germany, Austria, India, Monaco, Spain, France, Turkey, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. The 2017 Summit, held in New York, welcomed dignitaries and industry leaders for workshops and discussions addressing global trade, cybersecurity, emerging international business models, the future of Facebook, and next generation media innovations, among other topics. Membership in the Paley Media Council includes invitations to other industry events including Paley Dialogues, a series of roundtable breakfasts, panels, and discussions designed for thoughtful exchanges among top-tier executives.
Next Big Thing is a series of quarterly gatherings of new media and entertainment talent to share ideas and insights with established industry leaders. Paley Impact programs focus on the influence of the media and their role in facilitating social commentary. Topics covered in Paley Impact programs in 2017 included the future of local news, tensions between the presidency and the news media, and the state of press freedom.
The William S. Paley Television Festival (PaleyFest), founded in 1984, is a two-week interactive event, open to the public, held in Los Angeles, featuring the cast and creators of popular television shows. The March 2018 festival series celebrated 35 years of events honoring exceptional televised content and opened with a tribute to Barbra Streisand. Other programs throughout the week highlighted the breadth and craftsmanship of contemporary programming across broadcast networks. Festival presentations included sessions with the casts and production teams of The Orville (Fox, 2017–), Will & Grace (NBC, 1998–2006, 2017–), The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu, 2017–), Silicon Valley (HBO, 2014–), The Big Bang Theory (CBS, 2007–2019), Young Sheldon (CBS, 2017–), The Good Doctor (ABC, 2017–), Queen Sugar (OWN, 2016–), Riverdale (CW, 2017–), and Stranger Things (Netflix, 2016–), among other programs.
The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.
SUBSCRIBE
In 2010, the Paley Center announced a partnership with the IESE Business School at the University of Navarra in Barcelona, Spain. The Advanced Management Program in Media and Entertainment (Media AMP) is a ten-month program offered in five modules hosted at the IESE Business School in New York, the UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles, and the IESE program in Barcelona. The curriculum addresses media-specific topics as they relate to best management and organizational leadership practices. Participants are accepted from all sectors of the media and entertainment industries. The IESE Business School was ranked by Forbes in 2017 as offering one of the best international 2-year MBA programs. The business school has satellite programs in Madrid, New York, São Paolo, and Munich and offers management training for students from over 64 countries.
The original version of this article was published by SAGE Publications in The SAGE Encyclopedia of Journalism.