A gee-whiz celebration of the 1950s communications revolution that
in the end manages to inspire awe for the time when public affairs
mattered and people cared. Mickelson (From Whistle Stop to Sound
Bite, 1989, etc.), the first president of CBS News, at first forces
an unnecessary technical study of the progress and setbacks of
"coaxial cables and microwave relays" - ingredients in the painful
birth of the medium, and painful reading. In the personal account
that follows, though, the author places the "birth of TV" at the
1948 political conventions and continues on through the 1960
Kennedy-Nixon debates, by which time television was as formidable a
political force as either candidate. The long, arduous decade in
between brought red-baiting, threats of government interference,
and the 1959 "quiz scandals," all seemingly quaint in the era of
Jerry Springer and deregulation. But Mickelson makes it fresh,
spinning it into a seamless narrative driven by a cast that even
Network couldn't replicate, including the brash and ingenious
neophyte Don Hewitt, who went on to create 60 Minutes. Cavalier
star personality Edward R. Murrow, whose driving ambition was to
redress wrongs and excoriate the rest of television programming for
its "decadence, escapism, and insulation," was alienated from the
network for refusing to temper his progressive standpoint. (He and
producer Fred Friendly presented the case that brought Senator
Joseph McCarthy down.) Mickelson, who unjustifiably downplays his
own role in the formation of broadcast news, offers up priceless
anecdotes of a history he and his colleagues helped to shape,
faltering only when he tries to articulate the magic of it all. As
a bonus, he throws in the story of the fantastic, symbiotic
relationship that turned Sunday afternoons into must-see-TV and the
lackluster game of football into the close second as national
pastime. No paean to CBS, this brings some sense to the creation of
a monster and restores some noble prestige to a medium that has all
but lost it. (Kirkus Reviews)
Television news made meteoric progress in the 1950s. It rose from
being a plaything for the rich to a major factor in informing the
American public, and an aggressive rival to newspapers, radio, and
news magazines. This volume is an insider's account of the arduous
and frequently critical steps undertaken by inexperienced staffs in
the development of television news, documentaries, and sports
broadcasts. The author, the first president of CBS News, provides a
treasure trove of facts and anecdotes about plotting in the
corridors, the ascendancy of stars, and the retirement into
oblivion of the less favored. This volume is an important
contribution to the history of television journalism and will
appeal both to journalism and broadcasting scholars and to those
interested in the meteoric rise of television.
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