Committee:

Julian Zelizer, adviser
Kevin Kruse
Paul Starr
Samuel G. Freedman, Columbia University

Abstract:

Edward R. Murrow left a deep and enduring legacy in the field of broadcast journalism. His name and image evoke an ethos of excellence, integrity, and courage that continues to set a standard for the profession he helped invent, one typically tied to the midcentury ideal of objectivity. Yet this elevation to mythic status has ensconced a false image of Murrow in popular memory—shorn of key aspects that do not fit his legend, such as the extent of his involvement with British and American propaganda activities or his role in melding news broadcasting with personality and celebrity—and this prevents both his successors and his biographers from fully understanding his philosophy of reporting.

This dissertation employs a biographical approach to explore Murrow’s formative period as a journalist, from 1937 to 1942, using previously untapped archival evidence to chart the personal, professional, and political factors that shaped his approach to the job. Murrow had never trained or worked as a journalist before moving to London to represent the Columbia Broadcasting System in Europe. Instead, he arrived steeped in the arts of rhetoric, persuasion, and advocacy, coupled with an almost religious faith in American exceptionalism. Alarmed by witnessing the rapid advance of fascism in Europe, Murrow used these skills and beliefs to develop a new and uniquely personal mode of reporting for radio, one that took the form of an extended argument for liberal democratic values and American leadership in the world. This made him, inevitably, a political actor, as he cooperated with the British government on propaganda directed at his own country. Yet the codes of neutrality his network adopted, in response to political and commercial pressures, forced Murrow to speak the language of objectivity while subverting its intent. This obscured the extent of his advocacy, even as it allowed his broadcasts to shape the American cultural memory of World War II. By examining Murrow’s reporting as a form of information warfare against authoritarianism, this dissertation argues that today’s news media must adopt new modes of journalism in order to better serve democracy in crisis.

A copy of the dissertation will be available for review two weeks before the exam. Contact Lee Horinko for a copy of the dissertation and the Zoom meeting link and password.

All are welcome and encouraged to attend.