Murrow: Journalism At Its Best

On a cool September evening somewhere in America in 1940, a family gathers around a vacuum- tube radio. As someone adjusts the tuning knob, a distinct and serious voice cuts through the airwaves: “This ... is London.”

And so begins a riveting first- hand account of the infamous “London Blitz,” the wholesale bombing of that city by the German air force in World War II. Behind the microphone, sitting atop a London rooftop thousands of miles from the United States, sits a young journalist, Edward R. Murrow. With this and other wartime broadcasts, Murrow would spearhead the use of radio- based reporting and almost single- handedly create the concept of “broadcast journalism.”

Edward R. Murrow’s reputation as one of America’s most celebrated journalists endures long after his life was ended by lung cancer at the age of 57. Murrow would bring to American radio listeners — and later television viewers — compelling stories that would come alive through words and pictures; he would describe the horrors of war both on and off the battlefield; he would challenge a powerful member of the U.S. Congress in the midst of the “Red Scare” of the 1950s; and, near the end of his life, he would be called on by the president of the United States to lead the nation’s effort to “tell America’s story to the world.”

Download Murrow: Journalism At Its Best