Heads Up! Walter Cronkite remembers Murrow, McCarthy

[supernova]

"See It Now" about Sen Joseph McCarthy.

On "All Things Considered" this afternoon, starting at 4PM EST.

A giant remembering another giant. I :cry: to think what the Fourth Estate has become.

It's sure to be worth a listen.


http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/

Fifty years ago today, one of the most influential news broadcasts in history aired. The report, part of Edward R. Murrow's See It Now series, dealt with Sen. Joseph McCarthy's accusations that many in government and the media were Communist dupes. Legendary journalist Walter Cronkite recalls the occasion as the night network television shook off its timidity and called the bluff of a bully.

Do you think anyone in the present day media will get the hint?

[Darkstar4444]

1. old NPR

See Dan Shore (sp?) Comments about "Nixon's ermines List." Hear a recording of him reading his own name on TV and draw parallels

[supernova]

2. Great piece

I heard Dan Shore deliver that both on the evening news originally and on NPR Sat Edition. Chilling.

It's worth noting that Dan Shore is still around. :thumbsup:


edit: Welcome to DU DarkStar4444. :hi:

[newyawker99]

8. Hi Darkstar4444!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Bozita]

9. It's Daniel Schorr, himself a legendary newsman

one of my heroes.

OK, 45 minutes to airtime.

[RichardRay]

3. In defense of real journalists....

I am old enough to remember Edward R. Murrow's broadcasts. Not the content (I'm not THAT old), but the sheer gravitas of the man. I grew up on Walter Cronkite. My father was a journalist (last 15 years of his career as an editor for the Christian Science Monitor) and let me know that Cronkite was someone to consider respecting.

It's the influence of Murrow, Cronkite and my father that makes it difficult for me, sometimes, to go along with the 'media whore' chant that goes up here on DU everytime a journalist says something less than completely in accord with the common political perspective of folks here.

When real journalists do that I can understand.

Of course, not everyone who does that is a real journalist....

[supernova]

4. Comme ci; comme ca

I think the "media whore" chant around here has more to do with the lack of Cronkites and Murrows today. That so many news divisions are run for profit instead of for public service.

It's particularly telling that most young people today think Jon Stewart is more reliable and honest than the evening news. I'm not hopping on Jon Stewart; he does a great job. But he isn't straight news. He's entertainment-driven.

I enjoy the CSM on occasion. Your dad must be a heck of a journalist to get that gig. :toast:

[RichardRay]

5. Thanks, he was....

He was fired from his job at the Portland Oregonian for helping to organize the American Guild of Newspapermen (the white collar guild for editors, etc.) to go out on strike in support of the blue collar Printers and Stereotypers when the Newhouse chain bought the Portland dailies and tried to break the unions. It was the first time the Guild had even done that. As a result he was blacklisted by the chains. As the chains gobbled up US dailies we moved from city to city around the country and finally to Boston. He always said that the Monitor was a good paper to work for, and that he thought it very unlikely they would ever be bought by one of the chains. He was right. The paper is a pale shadow of what it once was, but it's still and independent news source.

[KoKo]

11. Thanks for sharing that with us. I wish there were more than a handful

left like your father. Sadly the Media De-Reg has cut them out. And, the rest live "high style" lives where they make more money than your Dad of the rest ever dreamed of. The "MW's" wine and dine and share McMansions in fine vacation spots (Tim Russert has McMansion near Jack Welch (GE) on Nantucket) Tom Browkaw is out West with the rest of the "Wyoming/Idaho folks in the Bush Administration.

Calling this "crew" MW's is in no way meant to shadow your Dad and the rest of the Press/Reporters of a better time. McCarthy shadowed their generation badly enough, now we have "McCarthy meets Corporate Greed" and payoffs to keep the reporting "in line."

I understand your feelings, though. Just didn't want you to think that the use of Media Whore here was meant for anyone who was like your dad.

Peace.

[bkohatl]

13. Walter Cronkite and Jack Webb

Sometime in the early 1970's, Walter Cronkite interviewed Jack Webb. Even though I wasn't even a teenager at the time, I will always remember the show because it wasn't what I expected. Jack produced one of the most wonderful and memorable Detective Shows ever made, Dragnet.
Jack had come on the show to talk to Walter to speak about Drugs and the Police. Jack Webb is one of the greatest friends LAPD, specifically, and policemen in general have ever had. But he came on the show to make a point and offer some legitimate criticism.
I think he chose Walter Cronkite because of his reputation for honesty, as well as his apparent democratic/Democratic leanings.
Jack wanted the police to focus arresting drug dealers in the war on drugs because they were the real criminals. Focusing, as LAPD had done, on the end user, only created a lot of terrified teenagers and young adults.
The result of this fear was disastrous according to Jack. When confronted with one of their peers having OD, these young people would not take their friend to the hospital out of the very real fear of being arrested. This was not a baseless fear either. Instead, what started to happen was these kids were being dumped in the streets of America. Too often that turned out to be a fatal mistake.
Jack suggested that hospitals be declared free zones. The only thing that mattered when a kid OD was getting them help. Save the drug war for the drug dealers, they were the real criminals.

The funny thing was that Jack had always impressed me as a conservative, that one interview convinced me that he had a heart. I liked him before, he became a hero to me afterwards.

I heard another story about Jack Webb. Bobby Driscoll was a Disney child star who won an Oscar for his performance in the magnificent RKO film noir thriller "The Window" in 1949. Bobby appeared in the Disney Classic "Song of the South", the #1 movie of 1946. In 1946 Bobby was the first human being ever given a contract by Walt Disney and Disney Studios. Bobby was nine-years-old at the time. Bobby would work for Walt Disney until 1953 after the release of "Peter Pan", the #1 movie of 1953 and the second highest grossing movie of the entire 1950's.
Unfortunately, Bobby like all kids grew up; in 1953 he was 16-years-old. For him it meant a severe case of acne. Shortly after the completion and release of "Peter Pan", Bobby heard about a blind item on Hedda Hopper's Hollywood Gossip Radio Show. It said the #1 child star at the children's studio needs to start looking for work because he's out of a job. Studio heads used to fire big stars that way.
Bobby being a kid went down to the studio to find out if it was him. Unfortunately, everyone ducked his calls and the secretary/receptionist wouldn't let him in to see anyone. Finally she stepped out for a moment; when she came back she told Bobby he could leave because he didn't work there anymore. Bobby's world collapsed and he broke down and cried. The secretary called security and had the crying, distraught teenager ejected from the studio escorted by a security guard. Everyone says that Bobby was never the same after that.
Within a few weeks he smoked his first joint of marijuana(a huge deal in 1953); within a few months he would be arrested for possession; by age 17 he was mainlining heroin. Everyone who knew him was stunned with how quickly Bobby went downhill, all felt powerless to stop it.
As a kid, Bobby was a straight A Student with a 140 IQ. He was Boy Scout who played Little League and made movies on the side. He was also the most unaffected kid in Hollywood. Even though he won an Oscar at 12, he never lauded over anyone's head. He was one of the most popular and well-liked kids at the Hollywood Professional School. He went around in jeans and t-shirts. No one ever recognized him, Bobby actually seemed to prefer it that way, but he would happily give you an autograph if you did.
After his arrest, no one would hire Bobby.
Except, Jack Webb and Loretta Young. Loretta Young hired Bobby for an episode of "The Loretta Young Show" called "Big Jim". No amount of make-up could hire his acne, but Bobby turned in a great performance.
Bobby appeared in Jack's Dragnet/The Big Sophomore about a boy who resorts to crime to support his family. Someone who saw the show 50 years ago still remembers how wonderful he was in it. There can be no doubt, Bobby won his Oscar the old-fashoined way: he earned. Despite being fired by Walt Disney, his acne and his drug arrest, none of that detracted from Bobby's ability to act.
Bosley Crowther, the film critic for The New York Times, called a brilliant, remarkable actor. That isn't bad praise for a 12-year-old boy. Bobby's last truly wonderful performance was in NBC's "The Medic", which has been described as a medical "Dragnet". In my mind it was his best performance.
I just wish there were more people like Jack Webb(and Loretta Young) in the world.
I like the fact that when Jack wanted to surprise people with an important, meaningful interview he chose Walter Cronkite as his conduit.

[Ysabel]

6. thanks supernova...! - n/t...

[supernova]

7. You're welcome

and a :kick:

[Bozita]

10. 5 minutes

[supernova]

12. On now. 4:37 pm EST

:kick: