FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2008
What Would Murrow Serve?
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:
