3 My 2¢ September 2026 MAIN OFFICES 216 EAST 75TH STREET NEW YORK, NY 10021 TEL: (212) 288-3933 WWW.VIDEOAGEINTERNATIONAL.COM WWW.VIDEOAGE.ORG VIALE ABRUZZI 30 20131 MILAN, ITALY EDITOR-in-CHIEF DOM SERAFINI EDITORIAL TEAM SARA ALESSI (NY) ENZO CHIARULLO (ITALY) LEAH HOCHBAUM ROSNER (NY) SUSAN HORNIK (L.A.) CAROLINE INTERTAGLIA (FRANCE) CAROLINA MANCINI (ITALY) OMAR MENDEZ (ARGENTINA) LUIS POLANCO (NY) MIKE REYNOLDS (L.A.) MARIA ZUPPELLO (BRAZIL) PUBLISHER MONICA GORGHETTO BUSINESS OFFICE LEN FINKEL WEB MANAGER BRUNO MARRACINO DESIGN/LAYOUT CLAUDIO MATTIONI, CARMINE RASPAOLO © TV TRADE MEDIA INC. 2026 What was once considered unthinkable is now becoming acceptable. In Europe — and quite possibly elsewhere in the world — intellectuals and commentators are currently debating how society has come to “accept” social and political positions that, until recently, were considered “unacceptable.” This phenomenon is often explained using the concept of the Overton Window, a model that describes how ideas move from the political fringe into the mainstream. Some experts argue that television, more than print media, has played an important role in shifting that window over time, contributing to today’s widespread social and political polarization. Social media has undoubtedly contributed to these changes. However, it arguably needed the legitimacy provided by television — more than by print media — to become as influential as it is today. For example, programs like the syndicated television show TMZ (now on FOX in the U.S.) frequently turn stories that first gain some attention on social media into mainstream television news, helping legitimize them for a broader audience. Indeed, some observers argue that today’s world is increasingly divided into two opposing camps, symbolized by two prominent Americans: U.S. president Donald Trump (whose public profile was shaped, in part, by television), and Pope Leo XIV (Robert Prevost), head of the Catholic Church. The term Overton Window is named after Joseph Overton, an American libertarian policy analyst and former senior vice president at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. In the early 1990s, Overton described a spectrum of public policy ranging from from “more free” to “less free” with regard to government intervention. After Overton’s death in 2003, his Mackinac colleague, Joseph Lehman, further developed the idea and named it after him. Then, in 2010, American conservative political commentator Glenn Beck published the political thriller The Overton Window, which helped introduce the concept to a broader audience. Later, in 2019, another American conservative political commentator, Joshua Treviño, described six stages through which public ideas can move as they gain acceptance: unthinkable, radical, acceptable, sensible, popular, and policy. Television tends to respond to political polarization (i.e., satisfying a market), a dynamic that can be understood through the concept of the Overton Window. One need only compare CNN and FOX News to see this evolution. In many countries, public broadcasters have addressed political diversity by providing programming that represents different viewpoints or major political parties. This explains why politicians often advocate positions that fall within the Overton Window, where they are more likely to gain public support. But what was once considered “unthinkable” — that CNN could become more conservative under the possible ownership of Paramount — is now becoming “acceptable.” At the same time, what was once “unthinkable” — that FOX News might move toward the political center — is becoming “popular.” These shifts illustrate how ideas can move along the Overton window from “less free” to “more free.” The Overton Window provides a useful framework for understanding not only where television is today, but also where it may be headed in the years to come. Dom Serafini Blame television for the world’s social and political polarization, which amplifies social media more than print media. Such polarization now has a name, the Overton Window. “No, Honey. It’s not de-ja-vu. It’s summer, and re-runs from social media!”
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