THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 28, 1996 TAG: 9607300515
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book review
SOURCE: BY CHILES T.A. LARSON
LENGTH: 90 lines
Radio pioneer Edward R. Murrow, he of the stentorian voice, delivered the news of World War II each evening over CBS to millions of news-hungry Americans.
``This is London. . . '' he would coolly begin his reportage during the dark days of the London blitz before the United States entered the war. Later he and his colleagues tracked the progress of the Allied attack on Europe, air-raid sirens and exploding bombs sometimes punctuating the background.
During the war, Murrow covered the Battle of Britain and 25 air combat bombing missions over enemy territory. He also took under his wing a team of talented correspondents who helped him to invent broadcast journalism. The Murrow Boys: Pioneers on the Front Lines of Broadcast Journalism is their remarkable story.
The ``Boys,'' actually 10 men and one woman, were a diverse group of youthful idealists who, although experienced news journeymen, had no familiarity with radio. Each tried to emulate Murrow's smooth style as he (or she) fanned out to cover various flash points where the war was being waged.
William L. Shirer was hired in 1937 and reported from Berlin during Hitler's initial conquests. The familiar voices of Eric Sevareid, Charles Collingwood, Howard K. Smith, Winston Burdett, Richard C. Hottelet and Larry LeSueur soon followed, along with the less familiar ones of Mary Marvin Breckinridge, Cecil Brown, William Downs and Thomas Grandin.
With their considerable intellect, enthusiasm and reporting skills, the broadcasters exposed and analyzed incidents as they occurred from far-flung battle zones. Fast and knowledgable, they brought an immediacy and impact to Americans that the often-brilliant print journalists could not muster.
But they had their frustrations, one of them being the censors. Sevareid battled with them often, according to authors Stanley Cloud and Lynne Olsen, ``only to be asked by some G.I.: Why don't you guys tell the truth once in a while?''
Sometimes Sevareid was able to circumvent the censors' watchful eyes. From Naples, Italy, he once reported:
``Our armies do not advance, and so, inevitably, soldiers stationed here lose their feeling of fight. Desk officers keep regular hours, and some come to resent any intrusion of war. . . .''
Murrow, a native of the North Carolina hamlet of Polecat Creek, was initially turned down for membership in the American Foreign Correspondents Association. He was rejected in 1937, after arriving in London, because ``he clearly wasn't a foreign correspondent.''
But in 1944, he became president of the organization, an indication of the impact broadcast journalism was having. With CBS leading the way, this wartime period would become the golden age of radio news.
Although their stars shined throughout the war and CBS stock soared in the afterglow of their accomplishments, the Boys faced formidable obstacles in peace and the advent of television. After the war, the network's executives relegated radio and radio news to a secondary role.
Although the news was still a major broadcasting force, CBS's youthful president, William S. Paley, always mindful of profits and ratings, recognized the importance of providing a steady stream of entertainment to listeners. Murrow's clout began to diminish. Shirer, first to feel the heat, was fired, he suspected, ``for the outspokenly liberal positions he took on the air.'' He never forgave Murrow for not being able to intervene.
Journalists Cloud and Olson, a husband-and-wife team, have assembled a vast amount of information on the careers of these formative broadcast personalities, crafting a scholarly yet readable book. Much may surprise you: Sevareid's microphone fright; Collingwood's triumphs and frailties both as a journalist and a bon vivani; and Burdett's flirtation with the communists.
The authors highlight each of the Boys' reporting achievements, such as Larry LeSueur's D-Day presence with the first wave at Utah Beach and Shirer's coverage of France's capitulation. Cecil Brown survived to report on the Japanese sinking of the British cruiser Repulse and Sevareid bailed out of a crippled C-46 while flying over the Himalayas. There are many harrowing and unforgettable experiences recorded in this immensely satisfying history. MEMO: Chiles T.A. Larson, a photojournalist, was a television newsman in
the early 1960s. He lives in Ivy. ILLUSTRATION: File Photo
Edward R. Murrow
{LEAD Chiles T.A. Larson, a photojournalist, was a television
newsman in the early 1960s. He lives in Ivy.
THE MURROW BOYS
Pioneers on the Front Lines of Broadcast Journalism
STANLEY CLOUD AND LYNNE OLSON.
Houghton Mifflin. 445 pp. $27.95. by CNB