Vicarious Combat – Bringing the Korean War to American Homes: Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly’s Hear It Now (1950-1951) and See It Now (1951-1958)

• Published in: Close encounters in war journal Vol. 6; pp. 49 - 69
• Main Author: Carole Darmon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Fondazione Nuto Revelli 01.11.2023
• Subjects: cbs radio and tv broadcasts; cold war; edward r. murrow; fred w. friendly; korean war
• ISSN: 2704-8799

Although the Vietnam War has been referred to as the “first television war” in United States history, the Korean War (1950-1953) was the first during which professional television journalists like Edward R. Murrow travelled to and reported from combat zones to write, film, and edit television broadcasts for domestic audiences. Mostly remembered as figures of resistance to the political demagoguery of the 1950s through the 1954 televised confrontations with Senator Joseph McCarthy, Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly were also pioneers in the shaping of journalism on the radio (Hear It Now, 1950-1951) and on television (See It Now, 1951-1958). By using the radio archives of Hear It Now and original television transcripts of See It Now from the Paley Center for Media, New York City (NY), this article studies the formal and aesthetic features of Murrow and Friendly’s broadcasts from 1950 to 1953. These broadcasts depicted American soldiers as selfless individuals sacrificing the comfort of domestic prosperity in order to contain the spread of communism abroad and to defend the remote lands of foreign peoples. The aim of this article is to question Murrow’s identity of defiance in relation to the powers that be. The study reveals a more complex journalistic form that blends elements of mass education and grey propaganda, one that rallies American public opinion to the cause of containment under Truman’s administration.