Edward R. Murrow

Reading audio



2004-7-3

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special
English. Today, we tell the story of Edward R. Murrow, a famous
radio and television broadcaster. He helped create and develop
modern news broadcasting.

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

Egbert Roscoe Murrow was born in
nineteen-oh-eight in the state of North Carolina. His parents lived
on a farm in an area called Polecat Creek. The Murrows were members
of the Quakers, a religious group known for its humanitarian
activities and opposition to war. When he was a boy, the Murrow
family moved across the country. They settled in the western state
of Washington, near the border with Canada.

VOICE TWO:

In college, Egbert Murrow changed his name to Edward. He
completed his college education at Washington State College in
nineteen-thirty. Edward was active in college politics. He served as
president of the National Student Federation. He organized debates
and other events for the student organization. He also traveled
throughout the United States and Europe.

Ed Murrow joined the Institute of International Education in
nineteen-thirty-two. He served as assistant director of the group.
During this period, he married a young woman he had met at a student
conference. Her name was Janet Brewster. They later had one child, a
son.

VOICE ONE:

Edward R. Murrow accepted a job with the Columbia Broadcasting
System in nineteen-thirty-five. His job was to get famous people to
speak on CBS radio programs. Two years later, Murrow was named
director of the CBS European office and moved to London, England.
His job was to get European officials and experts to provide
comments for CBS broadcasts. Murrow was twenty-nine years old and
the company's only representative in Europe.

VOICE TWO:

The situation in Europe was becoming tense. Adolf Hitler and his
Nazi party had come to power in Germany. Up until that time, radio
news in the United States was mostly opinions, or commentary. CBS
officials were concerned about permitting news broadcasts by
reporters.

Murrow offered a job to William L. Shirer, a newspaper reporter.
The two men wanted to do something different. They wanted to present
radio reports about what they had seen and heard.

In March, nineteen-thirty-eight, the two men made radio
broadcasting history. They produced a thirty-minute broadcast to
report on the seizure of Austria by Nazi Germany. That meant getting
people in Berlin and other European capitals to comment on the news
story.

Murrow traveled to Vienna to report on Nazi forces entering the
Austrian capital. The broadcast also included reports from London,
Berlin, Paris, France and Rome, Italy. It was a huge success.

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VOICE ONE:

Murrow returned to London and continued his broadcasts as World
War Two started. He opened the reports with the words, "This is
London." Murrow was an excellent reporter who chose his words with
great skill. His reports seemed to bring the war home to Americans.

For example, he described the Battle of Britain as he saw and
experienced it. In some of his reports, listeners could hear the
sound of bomb explosions or air raid warnings. Once, Murrow
broadcast from the top of a building and described what he saw. Here
is part of one report from August thirty-first,
nineteen-thirty-nine. Murrow describes plans by British officials to
move children away from coastal areas:

((EDWARD R. MURROW :21))

"School children will be taken by their teachers to homes in
safer districts where they will be housed by people who have already
offered to receive them and look after them. All parents of school
children are strongly urged to let their children go. Parents will
be told where their children are as soon as they reach their new
homes."

VOICE TWO:

Murrow organized a team of reporters whose names would become
well known to American listeners. They included Charles Collingwood,
Robert Trout, Eric Severeid, and Howard K. Smith. The team had
eleven members. They were called "the Murrow boys." They reported
news from the major European capitals. Their reports were heard on
the CBS radio program "World News Roundup." These men established
the traditions of broadcast journalism.

Most of the reporters had worked for newspapers or magazines.
They had learned to work quickly and clearly, much-needed qualities
in radio. The Murrow boys were to have a powerful effect on American
broadcasting for years to come.

Edward R. Murrow took his listeners places they had never been.
He let them experience things they could not imagine. For example,
after World War Two, he was among the first Allied reporters to
visit the Buchenwald prison camp operated by the Nazis in Germany
during the war. This is how he described the prisoners there:

(EDWARD R. MURROW:23)

"As we walked into the courtyard, a man fell dead. Two others,
they must have been over sixty, were crawling toward the latrine. I
saw it, but will not describe it. In another part of the camp, they
showed me the children, hundreds of them. Some were only six. One
rolled up his sleeve and showed me his number. It was tattooed on
his arm."

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VOICE ONE:

Murrow was famous when he returned home to the United States
after the war. His work in Europe guaranteed him a place in the
history of news reporting. He was appointed vice president of News
at CBS in nineteen-forty-six. However, he resigned from the position
the following year and returned to broadcasting.

Murrow recorded a series of record albums with a producer, Fred
Friendly. The series was called "I Can Hear It Now." These programs
presented historical events through recordings of speeches and news
broadcasts. Later, Murrow and Friendly developed a similar weekly
radio show. It was called "Hear It Now."

VOICE TWO:

In the United States, the rise of television in the
nineteen-fifties ended the period called the Golden Age of Radio
Broadcasting. Most of the popular shows disappeared from radio. More
and more people started watching television. So Ed Murrow and his
boys moved to television. He joined with Fred Friendly to create the
series "See It Now." This show lasted from nineteen-fifty-one to
nineteen-fifty-eight. The first "See It Now" showed the first
television pictures broadcast from both coasts. It showed the
Brooklyn Bridge in New York City and the Golden Gate Bridge in San
Francisco, California.

In one program, "See It Now" examined accusations made by Senator
Joseph McCarthy. He had accused government officials of being
supporters or members of the Communist Party. The program showed
that Senator McCarthy had no real evidence for the accusations. Some
people say the program helped to end the senator's hunt for
Communists. Experts say the program was important in the history of
television.

Other broadcasts on "See It Now" concerned important issues of
race, war and government dishonesty.

VOICE ONE:

Murrow also started another television show called "Person to
Person." He spoke with famous people in their homes. One program
visited Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of former President Franklin D.
Roosevelt. The show also visited actress Marilyn Monroe, actor
Marlon Brando and Senator John F. Kennedy.

Ed Murrow also produced a number of special investigative
programs for CBS. One such program was called "Harvest of Shame." It
showed the hard lives and poor living conditions of farm workers who
move from place to place. Some people say this broadcast was so
powerful that it influenced American lawmakers to pass measures to
protect these migrant workers.

VOICE TWO:

Murrow's reporting and choice of subjects often led to disputes
with his supervisors at CBS. After John F.Kennedy was elected
president, he asked the newsman to lead the United States
Information Agency. Murrow served as the agency's director from
nineteen-sixty-one to nineteen-sixty-four. Then, he retired from the
job. Murrow was sick with lung cancer. He had smoked cigarettes for
much of his life. He died in nineteen-sixty-five at his farm in
Pawling, New York. He was fifty-seven years old.

By the time he died, Murrow had won all of the top awards given
to reporters. He also received honors from five colleges. President
Lyndon Johnson gave him the Medal of Freedom. That is the highest
honor a president can give to an American citizen.

Today, Edward R. Murrow is remembered for his influence on
broadcasting and the quality of his reporting. Former CBS chairman
William Paley once said Murrow was a man made for his time and work.
Paley called him a student, a thinker and, at heart, a poet of
mankind. As a result, he said, Murrow was a great reporter.

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written by George Grow. Lawan Davis was our
producer. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for PEOPLE IN
AMERICA in VOA Special English.