The News
Many Americans are shocked by the attack on “the news.” They grew up in a different era, one where we accepted that the “truth” was told to us, in thirty-minute segments, by the three nightly news shows. Chet Huntley and David Brinkley on NBC, Walter Cronkite on CBS, and Peter Jennings on ABC (the mid-1960’s) delivered the facts, and as our nation went through the twin crises of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, they brought us the world. It went from black and white to color.
They all were in the tradition of the “original” television journalist, Edward R. Murrow. Murrow made his reputation on the radio during World War II, “…this is London calling;” reporting to the world as bombs fell and the city burned. He came home to CBS, and led investigative reporting with his program “See It Now.” In the heart of America’s last great catharsis of internal hate, the McCarthy Era, Murrow took on McCarthy, his broadcast contributed to the downfall of the Senator and the end of the era. Citizens trusted him.
During the 1960’s a different kind of “news” programming began. In the town of Dayton, Ohio, the local variety show (songs and soft interviews by Johnny Gilbert of “tell us what they won, Johnny” fame) was replaced by an interview show with a local host, Phil Donahue. Phil’s show went from ten to eleven in the morning, aimed at the “house wife” still at home in that era. The trademark of the show was the telephone on the desk. Phil invited the community to call in with questions, “…is the caller there,” and the women of Dayton had the most interesting questions and comments. Phil world say they made the show.
Phil dealt with controversial issues, and wasn’t afraid to project his own liberal beliefs. From Madeline Murray (the avowed atheist who’s case to end school prayer went to the Supreme Court) to Jerry Rubin (the profane anti-war activist who was part of the Chicago Seven) Phil brought the leading controversies into homes. His show expanded from Dayton, to a Midwest network (Cincinnati, Columbus, Indianapolis, Dayton) and ultimately to over 220 markets in the United States.
Full Disclosure: I had the remarkable opportunity of growing up with the Donahue Show. My father ran the television station, Dayton’s WLW-D, and was ultimately responsible for the show. Dad later took the show into syndication, selling it across the nation, and became President of the syndication division of Multimedia Television.
It was an interesting contrast, the “business Republican” management of the station, and the mid-1960’s protest culture view of the show. And while there were many internal controversies (including the show about the anatomically correct doll, “Little Baby Brother,” that caused so many calls that the Dayton phone exchange crashed) the biggest pressure was from upper management, who didn’t agree with the politics of the show. But while they disagreed with the politics, they certainly agreed with the profits.
So a new version of “news programming” was born. It no longer took the view that it only presented the “facts,” the moderator (Phil) was willing to take a side as well. This kind of programming is very familiar to today’s audience: from MSNBC to Fox, the evening lineup are all “news with an angle.” The other huge difference is the era of three stations, brought into your television from “the air” ended. Cable television brought the capability of hundreds of stations. Programming all of those stations required a “niche.” Broadcast was splintered, it took a smaller percentage of viewers to make a show popular because there was so much to watch.
This led to “tailored news;” news designed to match the audience. Today there are still the “big three” news broadcasts out there, with Lester Holt (NBC), Jeff Glor (CBS), and David Muir (ABC) holding down the jobs. But they no longer have the audience, influence, or reverence that their predecessors through the 1990’s had. Folks now trend to the news that fits their views, from Fox to CNN. It’s a way of hearing what they “want” to hear.
I’m sure that’s not what the small group meeting in our family room in Dayton Ohio in 1967 wanted. At the time it was a different kind of show (still would be) and they were breaking ground. While Phil was more liberal, one of the group ended up working for Rush Limbaugh, and my father was what was called a “Rockefeller Republican,” more liberal on social issues but conservative on fiscal concerns.
They were excited about a new format, and a new way to get folks involved. And so was the eleven year old serving the drinks!
Note: Phil retired “The Phil Donahue Show” after twenty-nine years. He later hosted a show on MSNBC, but management cancelled him – he was against the War in Iraq – and too liberal.
