I'm among the many journalists and educators attending the
Radio-TV News Directors Association convention in Las Vegas, April 13-16. I'm helping RTNDA work on a strategic planning initiative, teaching a session on difficult conversations and doing one-on-one coaching for attendees. I'll be bringing my video camera along to capture ideas of smart journalists for this blog, too.
Even as this year's convention has a strong digital focus and future orientation, it pays honor to the past. This year marks the 50th anniversary of a historic speech
Edward R. Murrow gave at an RTNDA convention, words of which echo -- and haunt -- to this day. He said of television:
This instrument can teach, it can illuminate;
yes, and it can even inspire.
But it can do so only to the extent that humans
are determined to use it to those ends.
Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box.
A plenary session at the convention will be: "What Would Murrow Do?" It will have a strong focus on journalism ethics in changing times, with changing technologies. I think we know the answers in advance: be courageous, be rigorous, be fair but never hesitate to reveal wrong when you can prove it.
Learning about Murrow's reporting career is easy: there many good books about his life, including a recent effort by former NPR radio voice Bob Edwards,
"Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism." Poynter's Library Director
David Shedden produced a wonderful multi-media presentation, "
In Search of Murrow's England," which tells the story of a trip he took to retrace Murrow's steps. There's the 2005 movie "
Good Night and Good Luck," directed by George Clooney, which Murrow contemporaries say captured him well.
When you read about Murrow, you inevitably hear about "
Murrow's Boys" -- the journalists he hired and supervised. They became the backbone of CBS news in its early years.
The idea of Murrow as manager got me wondering: we know about him as a journalist, but what kind of boss was he? Bob Edwards gives us this clue in his book, referring to CBS Chairman William S. Paley:
Paley believed Murrow was a good manager-- firm but fair, and pragmatic when necessary. Murrow seemed to know which staff members were motivated by a pat on the back and which by a swift kick in the tail.
Edwards' and other publications note that when Murrow began to gain fame for his war broadcasts, the staff back in New York formed a "Murrow is Not God Club," to keep things in perspective. Murrow demanded to join. Gotta like that in a boss -- a sense of humor and perhaps humility.
Murrow was known as a private person, sometimes given to dark moods. Does that mean he didn't share good times outside of work with his team? I happen to have an insight into the answer - and some proof on this video:
Note: If you're receiving this via e-mail newsletter and have trouble viewing the video, please use the video player on the SuperVision page.Here's what Casey Murrow's letter says:
This serving dish was in regular use in my parents' household. I remember that my mother and father often used it at small gatherings in the '50s and '60s. It was also used at larger parties, so I am sure that some hot or warm items were served in it to many of the "Murrow Boys" at their annual year-end parties at the time of the Year-In-Review programs which my father hosted.
I know this because I was often the server, at least in the early part of some of those evenings!
I bid on the beautiful dish to support the Radio-TV News Directors Foundation scholarship fund. I don't remember what I paid, but I know it wasn't a steal. I do recall that my Poynter buddy
Al Tompkins was beside me at that auction, nudging me with reminders that this was for charity, and it's hey, it's priceless -- and of course, Al was right.
