Fifty years ago today, one of the most influential news programs in television history aired. It was on CBS-TV, and produced by Fred Friendly and Edward R. Murrow. Part of the series See It Now, hosted by Murrow, it was a report on Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy and his campaign to root out “unpatriotic” Americans. Former CBS-TV anchor and commentator Walter Cronkite remembers the occasion as the night network television shook off its timidity and called the bluff of a bully.
I put a lot of links to the history of McCarthyism in an earlier post. Waste not, want not!
Yeah, I heard that. Quite good.
If McCarthy happened today, I don’t think the media would be able/willing/brave enough to shut him down.