Irony on the rocks with a twist...

The speed of communications is wondrous to behold. It is also true that speed can multiply the distribution of information that we know to be untrue. –Edward R. Murrow

I’m too young to remember hearing Edward R. Murrow’s tagline as he ended his broadcast each night. My parents were still young children when Senator Joseph McCarthy helped bring the true terrors of communism into the homes of every American citizen. Regardless, history provides few greater examples of just how easy it is for even the noblest of motivations by men in power to become misguided and corrupt as a result of that power. In a crusade to uncover subversive communist influences within the United States government itself, McCarthy’s investigations were only a part of a much greater paranoid “witch-hunt,” where by implication alone, without having to produce any evidence or follow due process, American citizens were tried, convicted, and sentenced, to years of being ostracized by their friends and family, blacklisted from their jobs, carrying the “suspicion” of being subversives. It is not without irony that the Senate investigations into communism in this country were responsible for creating the same sort of “Police State” conditions that were popular in the Soviet Union, and China, at the time.

No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices. – Edward R. Murrow

Considering the subject matter, it is not terribly surprising that Good Night, and Good Luck seems virtually overlooked by the press and moviegoers. The movie had no flashy action sequences, no high caliber automatic weapons, and included an intentional absence of color. There can be little doubt that the movie was meant to be a social and political statement drawing parallels to the conditions of our present day, alas, people want to be entertained, not reminded, of the stark reality of history repeating itself. Edward R. Murrow isn’t portrayed as a complicated man, rather, a straightforward, stubborn, hard-working, intellectual, who is hardly ever seen without a cigarette. Seeing the “behind-the-scenes” workings of early television news is a treat, but coming to an understanding of the true tensions between corporate sponsors, the U.S. government, studio executives, and a bunch of hard-nosed, uncompromising, journalists, who won’t back down, despite the enormous pressure to do exactly that. Perhaps the most relevant part of the whole movie is just how well he understood the medium of television and just how accurately he predicted its downfall; we’re living it today.

We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. – Edward R. Murrow

The movie starts and ends with Murrow giving the keynote speech at the 1958 convention of the Radio and Television Directors Association & Foundation where he openly admits to his audience that what he is about to say may do no good, but that inaction could mean the difference between the [then] relatively new medium of television either having the potential for a well-informed and aware citizenry, or allowing it to fully degenerate into merely an “entertaining distraction,” representing only the interests of its corporate sponsorship. As a part of this sort of television, the “free press” would not be free to pursue the truth and report upon it, as studio reliance upon corporate sponsorships becomes greater, its influence over all television programming, including what is considered to be “news,” can only continue to be greater. If a “free press” is to be considered one of several important “pillars” for the promotion of a free society, one that is “bought and paid for” can only serve to subjugate the very cause of freedom it was intended to protect. “News” thus filtered by profit-minded executives prior to broadcast is no longer “news,” at best it becomes advertising, at worst, propaganda. There can be little doubt that Murrow’s dire warnings concerning the future of television programming is part of the core message the producers wanted to leave with audiences, but it may very be that the message has come too late to be of any inherent value. What Murrow might have to say about the current state of affairs in this nation is speculative at best, but it is probable that he would view it with great skepticism, and sadness.

Our history will be what we make it. And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or color, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live. I invite your attention to the television schedules of all networks between the hours of 8 and 11 p.m., Eastern Time. Here you will find only fleeting and spasmodic reference to the fact that this nation is in mortal danger. There are, it is true, occasional informative programs presented in that intellectual ghetto on Sunday afternoons. But during the daily peak viewing periods, television in the main insulates us from the realities of the world in which we live. If this state of affairs continues, we may alter an advertising slogan to read: LOOK NOW, PAY LATER (from the speech cited above).

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it. – Edward R. Murrow

I’ve written many times before that we live in a time of unprecedented access to information of every kind, but most of us lack the time needed just to develop the skills to determine the “good” information from the “bad,” let alone what to do about it. Decision makers in government and private corporations have whole staffs of people to sift, sort through, and make sense of available information for them, so where does that leave the rest of us? Inundated with information, most people are going to take “…The path of least resistance,” and find one, possibly two, sources of information and trust them. If these “trusted” sources are in any way tainted or slanted by the financial interests of others, then viewers are being told something other than the whole truth, and journalists have become more the “mouthpieces” beholden to corporate and government entities, rather than reporters of any truth at all. Most people haven’t the time to do anything other than take what they are told at face value, and once they’ve been told, there is little that will dissuade them otherwise.

We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason. - Edward R. Murrow

While T.V. news outlets have always tried to “out scoop” one another, for a long time, were used to a relatively narrow field of competition. After having a virtual monopoly on T.V. for nearly 40 years, suddenly, the “big three” television networks found themselves having to “sell” their stories harder than ever. With 24-hour news networks on cable, the “old” networks had to change quite a bit just to keep up. Sensationalism, flash, and style, became far more important than substance and truth. The even more instantaneous information available by the Internet and World Wide Web could only help to fuel a move towards more “tabloid” content and less interest in actually reporting truth. Because each news outlet still wants to be first, they are less careful about the information they present. Given such conditions, how easy it is for more rapidly reported, carelessly confirmed, “news” to be picked up by other news agencies and repeated? How easy is it for specific messages to be given more “play” than others as a result of profit-minded interests rather than truth-minded ones? A sense of convenience, pleasing popular opinion, and urgency, should never be allowed to become a surrogate, or excuse, for truthfulness in reporting. Yet for information-saturated society that has a hard time telling the difference between popular entertainment, and vital information, that seems exactly what it has become. Irresponsible journalism can only lead to its deliberate misuse in order to create an ignorant and ill-informed general populace.

Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions. – Edward R. Murrow

Is there any comfort to be had in the knowledge that there was a time when journalists actually stood for something other than shamelessly promoting the interests of corporations and governments? A time when they were relentless enough to report the truth, even if that truth turned out to be unpopular, unfashionable, or came with the prospect of dire consequences for those who reported it? Modern television news bears little resemblance to its forebears. It has forgotten its roots, sold its soul, and lost its way. With a general populace interested in popular entertainment, preconceived notions, and tabloid sleaze, major news markets have no incentives to change. If ever there was a time for men like Edward R. Murrow, it is today. In light of the most recent world events, the decline of the "Free Press" in America can only be seen ultimately, as the herald for the decline of the United States of America. Should the unthinkable occur, the global ramifications are endless.

When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained. -Edward R. Murrow

What more might we do? How might we begin to fix what is broken?
If the news media truly wishes to mend fences it must break with it's addiction to corporate sponsorship, advertising, and government payola, and dedicate itself to total and absolute reformation of character. It means reporters will go back to "living on the cheap," working long hard tired days, doing a nearly always thankless job of reporting the truth, without endless speculation, rumors, inuendos, insinuations, or blatantly transparent biases. No more "fillers" or "slow news days." They must relentlessly dig and root out the truth wherever it may try to hide. They must report the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and let the public decide what they should think about it. Anything less will only be more of the same.

To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful. -Edward R. Murrow

"A patriot must be ready to defend his country against his government."
-Edward Abbey

TANSTAAFL!

©2004-2006 J.S.Brown

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