Olbermann Watch Hoisted on Own Petard
A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and too little knowledge isn’t in short supply over at Olbermann Watch. They’ve started this video series they call “Great Moments in Broadcast Journalism.” But the November 11th edition (#426) may unintentionally undercut their point.
Their standard open includes Edward R. Murrow in what appears to be a reference to his legendary “See It Now” broadcast that rebuked Senator Joseph McCarthy. But the clip they include appears to be Murrow introducing McCarthy’s “equal opportunity” appearance which Senator McCarthy was offered and accepted under the Fairness Doctrine.
Do these right wingers really want to use an example of an exercise of the Fairness Doctrine as a great moment in broadcasting? Sure undercuts a lot of talking points.
Episode #426 goes on to present Olbermann skewering Carrie Prejean for her latest round of hypocrisy and lack of judgment.
But I’m left wondering if the folks doing the clip selects over at Olbermann Watch know what they’re looking at, or understand what happened when the “See It Now” broadcast titled “A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy,” and a subsequent one the following week was originally aired. It wasn’t McCarthy’s rebuttal that caused the outrage, it was the original report that revealed the demagogue from Wisconsin for what he was.
Those broadcasts were met mostly with silence on the Hill, but there were several rabid anti-communists (perhaps red baiters is a better term) who attacked Edward R. Murrow with the same zeal the anti-Olbermann website exhibits daily toward Keith Olbermann.
McCarthy’s denouement came when the public started seeing McCarthy for what he was because they were exposed to a lot of his rhetoric, not only through the televised speech on CBS but because of the increased visibility the broadcasts brought him, which is very much like what is happening to Carrie Prejean today.
Maybe they need to edit their opening, or perhaps they really believe the great moment in journalism was the use of the Fairness Doctrine to allow Joseph McCarthy an equal opportunity to attack people for not being as good an American as he was.
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