The Murrow Doctrine

[SOURCE: The New Yorker, AUTHOR: Nicholas Lemann]
Why is Edward R. Murrow's career still important today? He was hired in the aftermath of the debate over the Communications Act of 1934, which created the Federal Communications Commission and adopted language from earlier legislation -- the Radio Act of 1927. That law established a system in which the government owned the airwaves; rather than broadcast itself, however, it would grant licenses for locations on the spectrum to private companies, though only “if public convenience, interest or necessity will be served thereby.” CBS thought it was getting an educator, not a journalist. Murrow came from a nonprofit organization called the Institute of International Education, which set up lectures and student seminars all over the world and helped scholars to leave Nazi Germany. His title, when he joined CBS in 1935, was Director of Talks. Now it looks as if, once again, right-wing politicians are trampling on civil liberties in the name of protecting the country from a terrifying global threat. Commercialism and superficiality seem regnant in broadcast news. Owners avoid controversy, cut budgets, and focus on producing the profits that Wall Street demands -- we’re back in the fifties. Murrow represents a kind of implacable, heroic journalistic courage that could sweep away all the obstacles in its path.
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060123fa_fact1