Murrow

1. Critics of TV
• Saw TV as banal,
meretricious,
mediocre
– A “wasteland”
(1961 FCC
chairman
Newton N.
Minow)

2. Edward R. Murrow and See It Now
(1951-1958)
• Quite a different reaction,
Murrow and See It Now
(1951-1958)
– Critics zeroed in on the
innovative manner, different
from previous documentary
filmmakers
– Murrow was not interested
in evenhanded objective
analysis
– Focused not only on what
was happening, but what
was wrong with it

3. Production
• Chaotic and hectic
– Film shot and rushed to
NYC for story development
– Segments would be
assigned to staff
– The staff edited 24 hours a
day from Friday to Monday
– Murrow's off -camera
narration was recorded in
studio and piped over to a
mixing facility and then
sent by telephone circuit to
master control at Grand
Central
– Broadcast Tuesday night

4. Popular Reception
• Response – Radulovich
– Mail: 100 to 1 in favor of Radulovich
– 22,000 letters 9 to l in favor of Murrow
• Economic Consequences
– Nonetheless, Alcoa terminated support for
See it Now at end of 54-55
– Cited Lack of Corporate support for
Murrow – Paley
• Political Consequences
– Aluminum: industrial and defense
applications – US military
– Alcoa was in conflict with Justice
Department over the 1950 anti-trust
judgment
• Fox Movietone News sent the bill for
McCarthy’s rebuttal to CBS, CBS sent
the bill back to McCarthy. McCarthy
tried to collect cost of program; Alcoa
claimed responsibility only for
commercial portion of See it Now.

5. • “I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your
station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine,
newspaper, profit and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you--and
keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can
assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland. You will see a
procession of game shows, violence, audience-participation shows,
formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and
thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western badmen,
western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and
cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials--many screaming, cajoling
and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you will see a few
things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you
think I exaggerate, try it.”
- Newton N. Minow