WSU Faculty Members Discuss the Murrow Legacy

At Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow School of Communication, students are schooled in the Murrow tradition. Murrow School faculty members are available to discuss issues raised by this dramatization of one of the pivotal moments in the life of one of WSU’s most famous and accomplished graduates. For more on Murrow’s life and legacy at WSU, see https://murrow.wsu.edu/.

A relevant message — The concerns that Edward R. Murrow expressed about the media and the news business five decades ago still resonate today, said Susan Ross, an associate professor in the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication, associate dean for the College of Liberal Arts and a Fulbright Scholar during the 2004-2005 academic year. Her research focuses on the First Amendment, media law, government accountability and public records.

“Murrow decried the dominance of corporate objectives over news values and longed for the early days of his career ‘when the fear of a slight reduction in business did not result in an immediate cutback in bodies in the news and public affairs department, at a time when network profits had just reached an all-time high,’ Ross said, citing Murrow’s comments in a 1958 speech to the Radio & Television News Directors Association. “It was tragic, in his eyes, that broadcasters apologized rather than advocated hard-hitting critical news reporting that inevitably offended some and distressed the powerful.”

“I am frightened by the imbalance, the constant striving to reach the largest possible audience for everything; by the absence of a sustained study of the state of the nation,” Murrow said. “(U.S. Journalist) Heywood Broun once said, ‘No body politic is healthy until it begins to itch.’ I would like television to produce some itching pills rather than this endless outpouring of tranquilizers.”

Ross said, “Even today, many would agree with his famous conclusion to 1958 speech: ‘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.’”

Ross can be reached at: 509.335.3854 or suross@wsu.edu

Murrow moments — Glenn Johnson, professor in the Murrow School and former anchor and news director, uses “Murrow moments” in teaching his students in television and radio news.

In writing for the general audience, one Murrow moment uses this Murrow quote: “Imagine you are telling a story to a professor at dinner while the maid’s boyfriend, a truck driver, was listening from the kitchen. Describe things in terms that make sense to the driver without insulting the professor’s intelligence.”

Students take a radio news class before a television news class. This quote from Murrow applies: “Writing for television is not unlike writing for radio. It must be the language of speech, lean copy, sparing of adjectives, letting the pictures and the action and the indigenous sound create the mood, and then maybe a few words–the fewer the better.”

And Johnson said he uses this Murrow quote to remind students of the dangers of egos in the news business: “Unless you watch it, there is a tendency for you to think that because your voice and your picture are transmitted from one end of the country to the other, you’re more intelligent and more important than you were when your voice only reached from one end of the bar to the other.”

Johnson is available at 509.335.3068 or galjohns@wsu.edu

Sinking standards? Edward R. Murrow is remembered for his high journalistic standards, standards which the public seems to believe are now in decline. John Irby, an associate professor in the Murrow School with more than 25 years professional newspaper experience, believes the media is neither more or less credible than it has been, on average, throughout history, yet perception makes credibility a serious problem.

“When the media has accuracy perceptions, it has credibility problems,” Irby said. “There are real issues of credibility today because of people like Jayson Blair, formerly of The New York Times, and Jack Kelley, formally of USA Today, and too many others who have been publicly flogged for plagiarism or creative fictionalized news reporting or other journalistic sins. But we can’t forget history, including the “yellow journalism” period and the pranks and serious ethical breeches of Hearst and Pulitzer during that era.”

Irby, who has worked with the Associated Press Managing Editors Credibility Roundtables Project, said, “Today’s media might be at its highest level in overall quality, despite some serious problems. The more dramatic change, however, has been with society and the media consumer. Expectations, demands and exposure are different and that’s why there will never be another Murrow. The public used to trust people like Murrow and Walter Cronkite and newspaper leaders like Jack Knight. While they were media giants, they were flawed people, just like the rest of us, but the media today practices in brighter sunshine which fosters less blind trust. Ultimately, that is a good thing.”

Irby is available at 509.335.1547 or jirby@wsu.edu 

Today’s Murrows? Could the journalism of Edward R. Murrow find a place in today’s more corporate media environment? David Demers, associate professor in the Murrow School, said it could. “My research on corporate newspapers during the 1990s shows that even though they are structurally organized to maximize profits, they actually place less emphasis on profits as an organizational goal and actually place a much greater emphasis on product quality than entrepreneurial media. Critics argue that corporate media produce content less critical of American business and government, but this is not true. My research shows that they actually produce content more critical of economic and political elites and dominant value systems,” said Demers, who authored the book “Global Media: Menace or Messiah” Hampton Press, 2001. Demers is available at 509.443.7057 or demersdavid@qwest.net.

Washington State Magazine — For a look at Murrow’s leadership in the decision by CBS News to take on Sen. McCarthy, read “Where Have You Gone, Edward R. Murrow?” by retired WSU professor Val Limburg.  The article in the recent issue of  Washington State Magazine also explores some of the key influences on Murrow’s life and values, including his education at Washington State University. Visit the magazine Web site at https://washington-state-magazine.wsu.edu/.