Since the beginning of broadcast journalism, there has been one person credited with revolutionizing the field. This was Edward R. Murrow, also known as Mr. Television. Murrow set the highest standard for the reporting of news on radio and television. He broadcast stories that other journalists of the time would not even touch for fear of blacklisting. His facts were solid, his scope thorough, his analysis on target, and his principles uncompromised (Edwards 7). He was also fearless when it came to challenging leaders who he felt were abusing their power, including Senator Joseph McCarthy. Murrow ushered in the modern age of reporting by basically creating the radio and television journalism medium and by openly using these mediums to challenge the views and principles of powerful politicians.
Broadcast journalism is defined as, “a field of news and journals which are ‘broadcast’, that is, published by electrical methods, instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters,” (“Broadcast Journalism”). Edward R. Murrow was one of the first true broadcast journalists. Although newspapers and journalists had been around for quite some time, radio and television were relatively new fields of technology, and a new way of presenting the news had to be adapted. Murrow’s first experience with broadcast journalism came to be when he started reporting from England during World War II. Although the radio was certainly not new when Murrow began reporting from it, it was the first time it was used as a substantial news source (Bernstein). Before this time, average citizens mainly tuned in to hear the headlines or to listen to nightly entertaining radio shows as it provided an escape from the bleakness of the Great Depressi...
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Cozma, Raluca. "From Murrow To Mediocrity?." Journalism Studies 11.5 (2010): 667-682. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 11 Apr. 2012.
Edwards, Bob. Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2004. Print.
"Journalism : Britannica Online Encyclopedia." Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2012. .
Kendrick, Alexander. Prime Time: The Life of Edward R. Murrow. Boston: Little, Brown, 1969. Print.
"The Watergate Story | The Post Investigates (washingtonpost.com)." Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. .
In his editorial "Words Triumph Over Images," Curtis Wilkie blames today’s media for being “reckless” and “a mutant reality show”. He believes that television and radio are “unfiltered”, which causes the quality of journalism for newspapers to be unmatched. Yet, it is unfair to label all media that is not print as lesser because the quality of any media relies on the viewers and the individual journalists, and in drastic situations like a hurricane, reporters may have many road blocks. Any of these aspects can affect the quality of journalism, which invalidates Curtis Wilkie’s claim.
When discussing the media, we must search back to its primal state the News Paper. For it was the News paper and its writers that forged ahead and allowed freedoms for today’s journalism on all fronts, from the Twitter accounts to the daily gazettes all must mark a single event in the evolution of media in respects to politics and all things shaping. Moving on in media history, we began to see a rapid expansion around 1990. With more than 50% of all American homes having cable TV access, newspapers in every city and town with major newspaper centers reaching far more than ever before. Then the introduction of the Internet; nothing would ever be the same.
In Partisan Journalism, A History of Media Bias in the United States, Jim A. Kuypers steers his audience on a journey from beginning to the end of American journalistic history, putting emphasis on the militaristic ideas of objectivity and partisanship. Kuypers confirm how the American journalistic tradition cultivated as a partisan root and, with only a short time for the objectivity in between, and then go back to those roots in which are today.
In “Reporting the News” by George C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry, the main idea is how the media determines what to air, where to get said stories that will air, how the media presents the news, and the medias effect on the general public. “Reporting The News” is a very strong and detailed article. The authors’ purpose is to inform the readers of what goes on in the news media. This can be inferred by the authors’ tone. The authors’ overall tone is critical of the topics that are covered. The tone can be determined by the authors’ strong use of transitions, specific examples, and phrases or words that indicate analysis. To summarize, first, the authors’ indicate that the media chooses its stories that will air
Sasanow, A. (2010, April 19). Murrow, McCarthy and the media frontier analyzed. Tufts Daily. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from http://www.tuftsdaily.com/murrow-mccarthy-and-the-media-frontier-analyzed-1.2226577?compArticle=yes#.UyIjC8JOXIU
It wasn’t just when the news was delivered but also how it was delivered. It had an influence because of the great personalities of Dick Smyth, Lee Marshall, Grant Hudson and others who dramatically and entertainingly delivered the news. They reported the news “dramatically” and with the “same energy as disk jockeys had snappy writing with alliterations, and a lot of short sound bites.” They were deejays without music. This dynamic combination of news reporting made for an amusing news report; that not only captured the audience, but also kept them tuning in.
Journalism proved to be a valuable tool in the fight to reveal the hidden secrets of Watergate. One newspaper in particular, “The Washington Post,” dug up important and necessary dirt on the those involved in Watergate. Two young journalists working for “The Washington Post,” Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, were assigned to the Watergate case (Kilian 28). The efforts of these two men provided a significant lead into the investigation of the scandal. The two spent much of their time working on the cases and were able to discover a money link between the burglars and the Nixon reelection committee (Kilian 28). They also interviewed members of Nixon’s reelection committee that wanted to talk.
Egbert Roscoe Murrow, an American broadcast journalist, was born on April 25, 1908. The youngest of three brothers, was raised in Guilford County, North Carolina, where they lived on a farm until the age of 6 only bringing a few hundred dollars a year from corn and hay. The Murrow family lives without the amenities today that we could not imagine life without, electricity and plumbing. After turning 6, Egbert and his family moved across the country to Skagit County, Washington. Skagit county was only 30 miles south of the Canadian border where he attended school nearby in Edison where he excelled greatly in basketball, winning a championship and was president of the student body his senior year. In Egbert’s sophomore year of college, he changed his name from “Egbert” to “Edward” due to his friends and family calling him “Ed” since his teen years. After graduating high school, Ed attended Washington State College majoring in speech. He showed a lot of interest in politics and even joined a fraternity. These interests in politics led him to
During the Vietnam War, a rift between government officials and journalists emerged. The American government felt the need, for various reasons, to censor many war developments. In an attempt to act ethically, the press fought the censors, trying their hardest to report the truth to the general public. Despite claims of bias and distortion by several prominent government officials, these journalists acted completely ethically, allowing the general public to obtain a fair, informed opinion.
The author provides a rough timeline of the objective norm emerging in American journalism, and explains the inner origin of these co...
Woodward and Bernstein's undertaking constructed the cornerstone for the modern role of the media. The making of the movie about the Watergate Scandal and the ventures of the two journalists signify the importance of the media. The media’s role as intermediary is exemplified throughout the plot of the movie. The movie is the embodiment of journalism that guides future journalists to progress towards the truth, no matter what they are going up against. It was the endeavor of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein that led them to the truth behind the president’s men. They showed that not even the president is able to deter the sanctity of journalism in its search of truth. The freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, and people’s right to know account for the same truth that journalists pursue; the truth that democracy is alive and will persist to live on.
During the Progressive Era Theodore Roosevelt coined the term “muckraker” to characterize journalists that he believed overdid themselves when researching a story, comparing them to someone stirring up the mud at the bottom of a pond. However, while Roosevelt created the nickname, he also used the muckrakers’ influence to directly appeal to the American people. Journalists who are considered muckrakers do not go too far in the pursuit of their stories because they are using their positions to expose the ills of the government, big business, and society; it is beneficial to the American people.
Edward R. Murrow was a polished journalist whose independence and unique reporting style impacted the radio and television industry alike. From the start of World War II until his death in 1965, Murrow’s universally recognized voice and honest tone surely made a difference in the lives’ of his many listeners.
Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism'." Morning Edition, 6 May 2004. Research in Context, libraries.state.ma.us/login?gwurl=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=MSIC&sw=w&u=mlin_s_stoughs&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA162002725&asid=f0d20e3c9c540a2764da9684197c1273. Accessed 5 Apr. 2017.
Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) is the big shot broadcaster, he is the host of two hit CBS shows on television. Edward is the first newsman to put controversial information on television. This information is not completely factual, but it speaks out against anticommunism and the government in hopes of taking down Joseph McCarthy. Joseph is the senator of Wisconsin who plays a big role in brainwashing Americans. He is a governmental figure who puts fear of communism in his supporters. Edward goes on national television and singles out the beloved and trusted senator McCarthy for his fake accusations against Milo Radulovich that created a lot of attention and ultimately ended up costing Milo his job. This is the turning point of bringing back the freedom to the people who start to pin supporters against McCarthy. After Edward put his story of McCarthy on TV, McCarthy hostilely replied by saying Edward was a communist. McCarthy also falsely accused Edward of joining communist unions.