Extra Credit--Counts as TWO Blog Posts:
View one of the following films: Quiz Show (1994) OR Good Night, and Good Luck (2005). Both are available at Askwith Media Center or on reserve at the Donald Hall Collection.
Keeping in mind that both of these films offer fictionalized renderings of historical circumstances, write a minimum of 400 words explaining how either the quiz show scandals (as depicted by Quiz Show) or Edward R. Murrow’s exposé of McCarthyism (as portrayed in Good Night, and Good Luck) had political results during the 1950s and shifted ideas about the medium of television and its specific genres (quiz shows or news programs).
In Good Night and Good Luck, Robert Murrow defies the pressure from various sponsors, corporations, even his own boss and chooses to do an expose on the crazy behavior of Joseph McCarthy at the height of his power run, later nicknamed McCarthyism. The idea of broadcast journalism was fairly new, with even Murrow favoring radio or news over the picture of television. But when he used this medium to produce a short, 30 minute news segment about Milo Radulovich, a man who was discharged from the army on suspicions of being a communist without proof or a fair trail, which starts to stir the pot.
ReplyDeleteThe story, before coming out, received a large number of pushback, from the army and even from Murrow’s boss, who warns him that he writes his checks and he knows that the sponsors will pull back from the program. This doesn’t sway Murrow, and he publishes the program regardless. The program includes Murrow as a talking head, along with interviews of Radulovich and information about his back life and why he was suddenly discharged. The first program is received with favorable views and Radulovich is reinstated into the army. This leads to a pursuit of McCarthy and ultimately a show down between McCarthy and Murrow.
While some thought the attack of McCarthy was wrong, most of America agreed about the things that Murrow was saying, but wouldn’t step forward to talk about them. They needed someone like Murrow, someone concrete behind the allegations that he might have taken communism pursuit a bit too far, in order to rally against him. This shows how television changed the way news was brought about. If a newspaper published the story, it might have gotten lost in the news, or not been able to reach a large medium of viewers, but television not only united the viewers, but it was able to reach all across the country, where news could not be ignored. It also allowed broadcast journalism to become the watchdogs over the government, by showing, in the midst of a Cold War, that a dissenting opinion was important rather than just blind agreement leading to one crazy man running the show. Murrow was a symbol for the checks over the government and stood up for the average man, like Milo. Murrow also used footage of McCarthy’s own speeches, and rather than print, had this undeniable proof of what McCarthy was saying.
In the movie, the programs eventually lead to the investigation of McCarthy by the senate, leading to political action taken because of what Murrow and his team at CBS had exposed. Although the movie is a fictional account of what happened, the effects on news journalism and political accountability did change television in the 1950’s.
In the compelling film, Good Night, and Good Luck, 1950’s newscaster Edward R. Murrow utilizes his groundbreaking half hour television program, entitled See it Now, to illuminate important political and social issues throughout the country. Although television was overwhelmingly viewed as a medium of entertainment during this time period, Murrow and See it Now transformed the function of television by producing a show that enlightened the citizenship rather than just amuse the audience.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the film, Murrow criticizes the U.S. Air Force for the firing of Lieutenant Milo Radulovich, after his father had been accused of being associated with the Communist Party. This deliberate attack on the Air Force was unprecedented at the time and triggered immense conflict throughout the country and especially the television industry. To mediate the public backlash, The Air Force reinstated Radulovic. This reinstatement is evidence of the impact Murrow’s broadcast had on shaping American public opinion to ultimately illicit justice.
Following the success of the Radulovich broadcast, Murrow goes on to challenge Senator Joseph McCarthy, who had led a barrage of vicious and unjust attacks on Americans who had been suspected of having an affiliation with the Communist Party. Although Murrow was criticized by some in the media as a communist sympathizer, Murrow sacrificed his personal reputation for the greater good. Murrow’s broadcast had direct political implications as his revelation spawned a nationally broadcast Senate investigation of McCarthy that eventually led to his downfall.
Edward R. Murrow was a pioneer in the entertainment industry as he forever transformed how television is used and viewed throughout the world. Before See it Now, television was strictly seen as entertainment. As the CBS Network Chairman Bill Paley told Murrow: “People want to enjoy themselves, they don’t want a civics lesson.”
However, Murrow courageously shattered this perception by declaring that current events, even if controversial,need to be exposed to the world. Murrow realized the power of television can have in communicating with millions of people at the same time and was determined to use this power to make the world a better place. At the end of the film, Murrow depicts in his address that television is an instrument that can teach, illuminate, and inspire, but it can only do so if humans use it towards those ends. Murrow’s focus on content over amusement redefined television programming as See it Now became the blueprint for a groundbreaking new genre of news driven television.
The 1994 film, Quiz Show, is a fictionalized rendering of the 1950s game show scandals involving the popular quiz show “Twenty-One.” The film tells the story of Herbert Stempel and Charles Van Doren’s involvement in the fixing of “Twenty-One.” During the 1950s, quiz shows had become incredibly popular because they were “inexpensive to produce, live and participatory, creating cliffhangers that encouraged tuning in next week, and unlikely to offend by taking on controversial topics that might upset either advertisers or viewers.” (Hilmes, 211). The 1950s also featured a boom in television viewers. At the beginning of the decade, only 9% of households in the United States had television sets, but by the end of the decade 86% of households had them. This represented how influential television was on American society during the 1950s.
ReplyDeleteHerbert Stempel had been the champion of “Twenty-One” for many weeks and because he wasn’t a very popular champion, the producers of the show felt the need for a new champion in order to improve ratings. Herbert was pressured by executives to let Charles Van Doren become the new champion. Executives wished to replace Herbert with Van Doren because he came from a wealthy, well-liked, and well-respected American family. After defeating Stempel, Van Doren becomes a celebrity because he was good looking, charming, and well-liked by American society. Van Doren was able to defeat Stempel only because Stempel missed the final question on purpose. However, Van Doren later lets the producers feed him the answers so he can remain the champion and increase his celebrity status.
However, the story takes a turn when Stempel threatens legal actions against NBC as a result of losing his winnings and not being featured on the program for several weeks. After it was revealed that the producer had coached contestants and the show was rigged, networks were forced to cancel their quiz shows.
The quiz show scandals had tremendous political impacts during the 1950s. At the time of the scandal, the actions of fixing quiz shows wasn’t illegal, it was simply frowned upon. However, following the scandals, the United States Congress passed the 1960 amendments of the Communications Act of 1934, making such actions illegal. Additionally, many networks later imposed a winnings limit on game shows which still stand today. The scandal had further influence on the medium of television in general because the networks fulfilled their desires to break free of the domination of sponsors and advertising agencies that they had tolerated for the past 30 years (Hilmes, 213).
In conclusion, Quiz Show is an entertaining dramatization of the scandals which captivated American society during the 1950s while television became an increasingly influential medium in the United States.