There are two common chromaticity standards for video‐display‐unit reference white, one standard at 6500 K correlated color temperature (CCT), called D65 for short, and the other, an industrial standard, at 9300 K CCT. The choice of D65 evolved from the NTSC specification for television receivers based on Illuminant C—an average daylight at 6800 K CCT. Although originally the studio illumination was much redder than D65, modern television cameras operate in daylight, so a daylight white standard is most likely to allow exact color reproduction at the receiver. Hence average daylight is the most natural white point. However, many manufacturers chose 9300 K because the chromatic efficiency of the prevailing blue phosphors was greater than that of red or green phosphors, because viewers did not object to a blue color bias, and because 9300 K was bluer than any of the prevailing ambient illuminations. In the years since the adoption of the 9300‐K standard, these facts underwent some change, and also VDUs came to be used for graphics as well as for television. This paper outlines the reference‐white problem, and suggests a reevaluation of the 9300‐K standard.