David Halberstam, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and author of over thirteen bestsellers, traces the impact of television on the media. According to Mr. Halberstam, the rising popularity of television in the 1950s had a "profound immediate impact on print and one of the ironies is that the print for a time got much much better." Mr. Halberstam contends that initially television led to the closing of mediocre papers and creation of a more serious The New York Times, Boston Globe, and L.A. Times. Mr. Halberstam explains that initially television news "was very much ... an extension of [news in print]" and that television reporters had "much the same kind of value[s]" as print journalists. Soon after though, according to Mr. Halberstam, technology raced ahead and one started to get color, larger television screens and many more channels. Mr. Halberstam contends that these changes helped transform our society from "a communication society ... to an entertainment society" Due to pressure from cable channels that carried "bawdier... more scandal[ous]" coverage, the "values[s] within the networks changed and reporters and anchormen were found who would go along with it" so that "we got a trivialization of our agenda." According to Mr. Halberstam, there were too many "likeable and sensational stories," as opposed to serious stories. "Print has had its [economic] base undermined," according to Mr. Halberstam. He adds that today most "...non national newspapers are parts of chains where they think that the real customer is not someone who buys the newspaper but someone who buys the stock." Mr. Halberstam finishes by surmising that "for a variety of technological and economic reasons" we are currently at the "low watermark" of journalism.