European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 1, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse United press Edward r. Murrow second from right talks to reporters in 1954 after a to attack try sen. Joe Mccarthy when to took on Joe Mccarthy by Edward Walsh the Washington Post Black and White images flickered a across a 40-year Divide. There on the i screen was a vaguely familiar face Pudgy i and scowling and the sound of a High pitched voice berating a hapless professor about a Book he had written More than 20 years car a tier. A a during a controversy Over the Book the voice demanded to know a did the civil liberties Union Supply you with an attorney a _ Quot they did Supply an a the answer is yes Quot. Quot the answer is a do you know a the voice thundered ominously a that the civil liberties Union has been listed As a subversive front doing the work of the communist party Quot Quot a Adid this really happen in modern America yes it did Newton Minow assured about 300 peo pie recently at Chicago a museum of broadcast communications. They gathered in the museums theater on the 40th anniversary of a famous television broadcast a the see it now program in which cd so Edward r Murrow began the Public dismantling of sen Joe Mccarthy r-wis., the 1950s anticommunist demagogue. What the audience was seeing said Minow a for Mer Federal communications commission chairman who coined the phrase a the vast wasteland Quot to describe the medium a is television growing it was primitive television. The teleprompter had not been invented so Murrow seated with his legs crossed read from a script glancing up Only occasionally at the camera. The 30-minute broadcast consisted mostly of excerpts from Mccarthy s speeches and harangues interspersed with critical comments from Murrow. And at the end of the program the gravely serious Murrow really unloaded. A we will not walk in fear of one another a he said. A we Wilt not be driven into an age of unreason., the actions of the Junior senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and Given considerable Comfort to our a a a a a a a a. And Oliver North thought that Ted Koppel was Tough on him. Indeed Bruce Dumont the founder and Percsi Dent of the museum said later that he doubted that Murrow a assault on Mccarthy would pass Muster with lbs news today. Network executives would in Sist on More Quot balance a he said. The audience included the curious Young the re Var timbering old and a genuine 1950$ relic a a High school teacher who proclaimed from the Back of the theater that Murrow had done the nation a a great disservice and that in another 40 years Mccarthy a reputation would be restored. But almost everyone else agreed that the March 9, 1954, broadcast of see it now was one of Early televisions finest hours. And with the historic broadcast7 freshly in mind a discussion that followed with Fred Friendly who was Morrow a producer and later Rose to be president of lbs news and Joseph Wershba a see it now Field producer quickly turned to the state of television today. The growth that Minow saw in 1954 seems to have been stunted they agreed. Take the Whitewater affair. A Why done to you spend More time explaining what the Clinton Story is All about because i done to understand it Quot Friendly said to Bill Kurtis the local lbs Anchor who moderated the discussion. A Newt do you understand it Ahe said to Minow. A i done to think anyone understands it a Minow replied from the audience. Quot or take the Case of abcs Diane Sawyer who chose that very night to resurrect the murderous spree of Charles Manson and his so called family. A garbage and rot Quot Friendly said. Kurtis lamely replied something about ratings and Money and Friendly quickly agreed. A the problem with television and radio today a he said a is that they make so much Money doing their worst they can to afford to do their _ so it has always been or so it seems. Friendly recalled that at lbs he and Murrow had pleaded with chairman Williamj palsy to broadcast the army Mccarthy hearings where the hollow baseness of Mccarthy a crusade was finally fully exposed. Paley said no. It would Cost the network too much Money he explained. So the hearings were broadcast first by the extinct Dumont network and soon thereafter to Abc then the fledgling third ranked network which had Little to by Magazine heat a a y. By Kevin Cowherd the Baltimore Sun Copic talk about pressure but if you want real pressure try letting a Magazine subscription lapse. As my subscription to a Well known sports Magazine ran out i received the following letters dear subscriber just a gentle reminder that your subscription is due to expire after six More issues. 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