This paper looks at the potential of the new electronic media of broadcast television (including teletext and interactive cable), the videodisc, and the microcomputer. It examines the nature and extent of these media as textual communication systems and considers their implications in terms of both the reading skills they demand, and the ways in which these skills may be acquired or facilitated. In particular, it focuses on how the video screen might be used graphically to assist its future users, and ways in which educators and others interested in the process of reading verbal materials may contribute to the development of both the text presented and the software designed to teach reading skills. The paper may interest not only teachers of these skills but also broadcasters, electronics hardware manufacturers, computer software producers, and others with interests in the development of literacy. A 40-item reference list is included. (THC)