I've always had great respect for Edward R. Murrow. He went to Washington State College (now University) in the late 1920s. I graduated from WSU in 1995 from, not surprisingly given his stature, the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication. Famed for his reportage for CBS in London during the Blitz of WWII, I've always appreciated him for what he's also known for, taking down Senator Joseph McCarthy and his Red Scare witchhunt of the 1950s. It was on March 9, 1954 that Murrow, his producer Fred Friendly, and their news team produced a thirty minute special on McCarthy for their See It Now television program. Using the senator's own speeches and proclamations, Murrow and his crew found gaping holes of logic and contradictions within McCarthy's virulent attacks. Murrow exposed McCarthy for what he was. Eviscerated, McCarthy and and his hunt for "Communists" was forever crippled.
I recently read Arthur Miller's essay on Murrow standing up to McCarthy. Entitled "The Night Ed Murrow Struck Back," it was originally published in Esquire before being compiled in a book of Miller's essays, Echoes Down the Cooridor: Collected Essays 1944-2000. It got me thinking, particularly with the critically-acclaimed George Clooney movie, Good Night, and Good Luck, still resonating with me, who are today's Edward R. Murrow's?
I immediately thought of two men, one, oddly, a comedian, the other, just as odd, a former sports broadcaster.
Stephen Colbert.
His roast of George Bush is one of the gutsiest and funniest things I've ever seen:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-869183917758574879
Keith Olbermann:
A former anchor on ESPN's SportsCenter, now a political and social commentator, right or wrong, he's not afraid to speak his mind. Take the following from his blog at MSNBC:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240
There are undoubtedly others who are speaking out, and not just broadcasters - novelists and playwrights, singers and screenwriters, poets and artists. And there are probably some that are doing it better and with greater success then the ones I've mentioned. For that I thank you.
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