Edward R. Murrow

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Edward Roscoe "Ed" Murrow (born April 25, 1908 in Greensboro (North Carolina) , † April 27, 1965 in Pawling ( New York ); actually Egbert Roscoe Murrow ) was an American journalist .

Edward R. Murrow in Wiesbaden (1956)

Life

Radio career

Edward R. Murrow began his radio career in 1935 . Its history is closely linked to that of CBS . In 1937 he was transferred to London as director of CBS Europe . He hired the journalist William L. Shirer to cover the continent. The first big report of the two was a report about the annexation of Austria to the German Reich . Shirer was in Vienna , but could no longer send his report undisturbed over the shortwave stations of the Austrian broadcasting company . Murrow ordered Shirer to London, from where the latter sent an uncensored eyewitness report of the annexation , and himself flew to Vienna to report from there.

The broadcast on March 13, 1938 was a pioneering achievement of radio: Correspondent reports from Washington , Paris , London, Berlin and Vienna, where Murrow himself stood in front of the microphone for the first time , established the format of the news broadcast with several live contributions.

The CBS World News Roundup , which still exists today, was developed on the basis of this report and is considered the oldest radio news format in the world.

Second World War

During the German air war against England , Murrow reported on his program This is London from London, and his reports tied the audience to the radio. Up until then, war coverage had mainly been reserved for the newspapers; radio news consisted of an announcer reading agency reports. Later in the war he took part in bomber flights over Germany , but these reports were sent as recordings.

At the end of the war, Murrow reported in an unusually relentless manner for many listeners of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp , he described the condition of the survivors and the mountains of corpses, "piled up like logs":

“ I pray you to believe what I have said about Buchenwald. I have reported what I saw and heard, but only part of it. For most of it I have no words. If I've offended you by this rather mild account of Buchenwald, I'm not in the least sorry. ”- April 15, 1945

("I ask you to believe what I said about Buchenwald. I have reported what I saw and heard, but only part of it. I have no words for most of it. If I am pleased with this rather reserved account of I am not sorry in the least. ")

The post-war years

In 1947, the collaboration between Murrow and Shirer ended when the latter left CBS. The sponsor of his show had withdrawn and there was no replacement, which had an impact on Shirer's pay. Shirer said Murrow and the broadcaster dumped him after being critical of the Truman Doctrine . The affair confirmed Murrow's intention to leave his director post at CBS in favor of increased reporting.

watch TV

In the early 1950s, Murrow also began appearing on television , where he spoke mostly of comments that were broadcast at the end of the main news.

On November 18, 1951, the first time was his mission See It Now (now Look at it) broadcast, which treated many sensitive issues in the following years, but mainly as a trigger the debate about Senator Joseph McCarthy was remembered. On March 9, 1954, the 30-minute report "A Report on Senator McCarthy" was broadcast, using McCarthy's own speeches and statements to criticize him and point out contradictions. Murrow knew he was using the medium of television to attack a single man, and he was unsure of the moral justification of the methods he was using. Murrow and his producer Fred Friendly paid out of their own pocket advertisements in daily newspapers referring to the broadcast. After the broadcast, CBS was showered with tens of thousands of letters and calls that were roughly a 15: 1 ratio to Murrow.

Murrow gave McCarthy the opportunity to respond to the allegations on his broadcast. This "reply" was produced by McCarthy himself and aired two weeks later on CBS, as promised by Murrow. Observers said that McCarthy's reply broadcast may have contributed more to his overthrow than Murrow's original report - Murrow knew the rules of the new medium of television, McCarthy did not.

From the mid-1950s onwards, the quiz show phenomenon marginalized news programs, finding sponsorships harder , and so on July 7, 1958, the last episode of See It Now aired.

That fall, Murrow gave a speech to the Radio and Television News Directors Association in which he criticized the impact of commerce and entertainment on television, which he believed neglected its duties to the general public: “ Primetime isolates us television mainly from the reality of our life. "

Murrow, who was also head of Voice of America in its early years, resigned this post when US President John F. Kennedy in 1961 offered him the leadership of the United States Information Agency , an institution for "public diplomacy ".

Murrow developed lung cancer and died in 1965, two days after his 57th birthday. Murrow is located in the New York district of Brooklyn buried.

Awards and honors

After Edward R. Murrow are named:

  • the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University (since July 1, 2008, previously Edward R. Murrow School of Communication (ERMSOC))
  • the Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn , New York
  • the Murrow Boulevard in Greensboro , North Carolina

Several US companies present an Edward R. Murrow Award . This includes:

Others

Murrow was a heavy smoker all his life , and he was almost never seen on television without a cigarette .

In 1958, Murrow narrated the prologue in the Oscar-winning adventure film Around the World in 80 Days .

The American rock band Fleetwood Mac released in 2003, the piece Murrow turning over in his grave (to German as Murrow would turn in his grave ) as a direct criticism of the American press. The song was written by Lindsey Buckingham .

Movie

literature

  • Philip Seib: Broadcasts from the Blitz. How Edward R. Murrow Helped Lead America into War. Potomac Books, Washington DC 2006, ISBN 1-59797-012-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ “ 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. ”( Http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/commentary/hiddenagenda/murrow.html )
  2. ↑ on the other hand Find A Grave : "Cremated ... Ashes Scattered in the glen at Glen Arden Farm"
personal data
SURNAME Murrow, Edward R.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Murrow, Egbert Roscoe (real name); Murrow, Ed
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American journalist
DATE OF BIRTH April 25, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Greensboro, North Carolina
DATE OF DEATH April 27, 1965
Place of death Pawling , New York