THE IMAGE OF THE BROADCAST JOURNALIST
IN MOVIES AND TELEVISION
1937-2006
THE 2006 IJPC ASSOCIATES PREMIUM DVD
2:48:00 -- 200 clips
Produced by Joe Saltzman
Edited by Lee Warner
A two-hour-and-48-minute video compilation for IJPC Associates members containing 200 movie and television clips tracing the image of the broadcast journalist in films and television from 1937 to 2006.
This disc can be used in a variety of ways. It is the perfect introduction to any communications class on the image of the broadcast journalist in popular culture. It could be used in any class on broadcast journalism, media, ethics, communication studies or any class discussing the role of the broadcast journalist in film and television or the image of women in film and television.
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The image of the broadcast journalist in popular culture is one that builds on the worst characteristics of real-life TV journalists seen on live television news and exaggerates that portrayal into one of the most ridiculed figures in journalism today. Female TV journalists have been singled out for derision as beauties without any brains or news experience. Joining them are the male anchors who, since Ted Baxter in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, have become objects of ridicule, laughable symbols that mock TV anchors on local news broadcasts throughout the country. Of all the images of the journalists in popular culture, the broadcast journalist is the most negatively portrayed time and again.
TV anchors and reporters prove irresistible to many writers in fiction, movies and TV – they are either depicted as attractive airheads who worry more about the way they look and sound than what they are saying or tough-minded professionals who are constantly at odds with producers, news directors and general managers who are only interested in ratings and profits.
Ironically enough, the two most positive images of the journalist in popular culture turn out to be female TV journalists – Mary Richards played by Mary Tyler Moore in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which was on TV from 1970-1977 and Murphy Brown played by Candice Bergen in Murphy Brown, which was on TV from 1988-1998. Richards starts out as the insecure cub reporter-type working as an associate producer in the Minneapolis WJM-TV newsroom and by the end of the series becomes a self-assured professional ready to move on to bigger things affirmed by Mary and Rhoda, the 2000 TV movie updating her fictional history. Murphy Brown is the old-fashioned reporter who doesn’t let anything get in the way of her story or her work as a journalist. She won't let go of the passion that makes her one of the most successful TV reporters in the business and a role model for thousands of women. She got her job at the newsmagazine FYI in 1977, the year Mary Richards was fired from WJM and the same year her boss, Lou Grant, took over as city editor for the Los Angeles Tribune in the Lou Grant TV series.
You really can’t blame the public for confusing fictional TV reporters with the real thing. Murphy Brown obliterated the fine line between reality and fiction almost two decades ago. She seems to live in the real world, not the world of TV sitcoms. Real journalists are frequent guests and they talk to Murphy as if she is their equal. Away from the television program, Murphy Brown was treated in the media as if she really existed outside Candice Bergen’s persona. And when Vice President Dan Quayle got into a national debate over single mothers with Murphy Brown, reality and fiction became inseparable. Practically every major broadcast journalist appeared on the program during its decade-long run. And when Murphy greets them on camera, it is as if they are old and valued friends. Not only do real-life journalists treat Murphy as an equal, but politicians from both parties also show up to talk with her and about her. If they all accept Murphy as a real-life counterpart, then who is the audience to deny her existence?
Building on stereotypes reinforced by live TV coverage and local TV news programs, the movies and television have created indelible images:
- The arrogant male anchor who is lost without his teleprompter and is often the source of ridicule and laughter.
- The female TV reporter who usually makes a fool of herself whenever she goes into the field. She can be ruthless as she sleeps her way to the top.
- The experienced TV reporter, usually male, who is fed up with the state of television news and constantly bemoans how the Edward R. Murrow legacy is dying.
- The unscrupulous producers, news directors and station management who will do anything to get high ratings even if it means destroying people’s lives in pursuit of a sensational story.
The heroes are those TV journalists who against all odds work for the public good, putting the public interest above everything else and always trying to do the best job they can. They’re working in a medium where ratings are all that matter and celebrity news overwhelms everything else. They often feel as if they’re fighting a losing battle.
The villains are those who use the electronic media for their own personal, political or financial gain, who take the precious commodity of public confidence in the news media for their own selfish ends. They are mostly network presidents and station general managers who force news directors and their staffs to do whatever is necessary to get good ratings. In the 1970s, when those who owned television networks and stations discovered that news was Big Business, they decided that it was too important a commodity to leave in the hands of the journalists. For the last 35 years, the non-journalists, the businessmen, the people interested in profits and the bottom line have turned TV news into a shadow of what might have been. They are the true broadcast news villains both in fiction and real life.
Easily the most dominant and damaging image of the TV broadcast journalist in movies and television is that of the anonymous TV reporter chasing after a story. In countless movies, television programs and novels, TV journalists and their camerapersons travel in packs, armed with cameras and microphones. They cover fast-breaking news by crowding, yelling, shouting, bullying, and forcing their way into unfolding news events.
In the end, those are the images that stick in the public’s mind as they form opinions about their news media. The anonymous TV reporter is usually the image most people remember when they condemn the news media and everybody in it as arrogant, uncaring journalists who hide behind the First Amendment and free press to achieve their own selfish ends. When we think of journalists, most of us think of a favorite TV journalist whether it be interviewer Barbara Walters or Jon Stewart, who plays at being a TV anchorman, or we think of the persistent anonymous TV reporter jamming a mike in somebody’s face while the camera keeps rolling no matter what happens, no matter how excruciating the images. We don’t identify with the journalist anymore. We identify with the person who is being pursued by the camera. That person becomes us and we hate the TV journalist for embarrassing us and invading our privacy, we hate the journalist for being judgmental and arrogant. This overwhelms what most of us understand: that we need journalists to give us the news and information so we can make decisions in a democracy. Intellectually we know that to be true and we know that a free press is essential if any democracy is to survive. But when we close our eyes, all we seem to remember are the images of a menacing camera and an overbearing TV journalist, a ridiculously stupid anchorman who only cares about how he looks, or a beautiful female mispronouncing a familiar name or country.
It’s enough to make Edward R. Murrow roll over in his grave.
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The premium DVD is for personal use only and is available only to IJPC Associates. It is not available anywhere else.
NOTE: There is some profanity and nudity in this video. Please screen privately before showing it to your class. Key clips to check: Salvador, South Park, The Insider, Three Kings, Weekend Flash.
The video includes the following clips:
1937 – Behind the Headlines
1937 -- Love Is On the Air
1939 – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - H.V. Kaltenborn
1940 – Foreign Correspondent
1941 – Meet John Doe – Various Real-Life Radio Correspondents
1975 – The Hindenburg – Real-Life Audio
1937 – Love and Hisses – Walter Winchell
1998 – Winchell
1946 – Without Reservations – Louella Parsons
1951 – The Day the Earth Stood Still – Drew Pearson, H.V. Kaltenborn, Elmer Davis.
1956 – Godzilla, King of the Monsters
1956 – The Great Man
1957 – A Face in the Crowd
1958 – I Want to Live! – George Putnam, KTTV Reporter-Newscaster
1958 – War of the Colossal Beast – Stan Chambers and KTLA
1958 – Cry Terror – Chet Huntley and Roy Neal
1964 – Perry Mason: The Case of the Arrogant Arsonist
1964 – A Global Affair – Hugh Downs
1964 – The Best Man – CBS Correspondents Howard K. Smith and Bill Stout
1968 – The Shoes of the Fisherman
1969 – Medium Cool
1970-1977 – The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1971 – Love Machine – Jerry Dunphy
1971 – Cold Turkey
1971 – Bananas – Howard Cossel
1976 – M*A*S*H: The Interview – Clete Roberts
1978 – M*A*S*H: Our Finest Hour – Clete Roberts
1975-1976 – Saturday Night Live Weekend Update – Chey Chase
1976-1980 – Saturday Night Live Weekend Update – Jane Curtin, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd
1985-1991 – Saturday Night Live Weekend Update – Dennis Miller
1991-1994 – Saturday Night Live Weekend Update – Kevin Nealon
1994-1997 – Saturday Night Live Weekend Update – Norm MacDonald
1998-2000 – Saturday Night Live Weekend Update – Colin Quinn
2000-2004 – Saturday Night Live Weekend Update – Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey
2004-2006 – Saturday Night Live Weekend Update – Tina Fey and Amy Poehler
1976 – Network
1976 – Futureworld
1978 – ChiPs: Disaster Squad
1978 – The Rockford Files: The House on Willis Avenue
1978 – First You Cry – Betty Rollin, NBC News Correspondent
1978 –Capricorn One
1978 – WKRP In Cincinnati: Turkeys Away
1979 – The China Syndrome
1979 -- Electric Horseman
1979 -- Act of Violence
1980 -- Eyes of a Stranger
1981 – Eyewitness
1982 – Wrong is Right
1982 – Seduction, The
1982 – The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
1982 – Prime Suspect
1982 – Year of Living Dangerously
1983 – Special Bulletin
1983 – Under Fire
1983 – V
1984 – Countdown to Looking Glass - Eric Severeid
1984 – Irreconcilable Differences
1984 – Protocol
1985 – The Howling
1985 – Year of the Dragon
1985 – Reckless Disregard
1986 – Highway to Heaven : Children’s Children
1986 -- Salvador
1986 – Cobra
1986 – Legal Eagles
1986 -- News at Eleven
1986 – Murrow
2005 – Good Night, and Good Luck
1986 – Hunter: Overnight Sensation
1987 – Hunter: Turning Point
1987 – Broadcast News
1987 – Switching Channels
1987 – Max Headroom
1987 – Robocop
1990 – Robocop 2
1990-1994 – Robocop: The Television Series
1987 – Stillwatch
1987 – Street Smart
1988 – Dead Pool
1988 – The Accused
1988 – Miami Vice: Hell Hath No Fury…
1988 – Patty Hearst
1988 – A Cry in the Dark
1988 – Tanner 88
1988 – Die Hard
1990 – Die Hard 2
1988-1998 – Murphy Brown
1989 – The Simpsons
1989 – Big Man on Campus
1989 – Roxanne: The Prize Pulitzer
1989 – Money, Power, Murder
1989 – The Preppie Murder
1990-1994 – E.N.G.
1990 – The Image
1990 – Eternity
1990 – Hidden Agenda
1990 – Navy Seals
1990 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
1987-1996 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoons
1991 – Livin’ Large
1991 – Her Wicked Ways
1992 – Quantum Leap: Temptation Eyes
1992 – Coach: To Air is Human
1992 – Ricochet
1992 – To Die For
1992 – Hero
1993 – The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom
1993 – The Amy Fisher Story
1993 – While Justice Sleeps
1994 – Natural Born Killers
1995 – Love & Betrayal
1995-1999 – NewsRadio
1995 – Fast Company
1995 – Indictment: The McMartin Trial -- Wayne Satz, KABC-TV
1995 – Almost Golden – Jessica Savitch (Sela Ward), NBC News
1995-2004 -- JAG
1996 – Up Close & Personal Sally (Tally) Atwater – Jessica Savitch
1996 – Scream
1996 – Devil’s Food
1996 – The Newsroom
1996-1997 – Quack Pack
1997 – Mad City
1997 – Welcome to Sarajevo
1997 – Volcano
1997 – Money Talks
1997 – Weapons of Mass Distraction
1997-2004 – Practice, The
1997-2000 – The New Batman/Superman Adventures
1998 – Deep Impact
1998 – Naked City
1998 – From the Earth to the Moon: We Interrupt This Program
1998 – Final Justice
1998 – Wrongfully Accused
1998 – Brian Benben Show
1998 – LateLine: Al Anonymous
1999-2006 – The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
1999 – Sports Night: Shane
1999 – Muppets from Space
1999 – My Favorite Martian
1999 – Family Guy
1999 – Commercial: MIC - Michael Jordan
1999-2001 The Lot
1999 – Slight Case of Murder
1999 – Three Kings
1999 – The Insider
2000 – Third Watch: Four Days
2000 – Scream 3
2000 – South Park: Contorting Quintuplets 2000
2000 – Running Mates
2001 – Walker: 6 Hours
2001 – Charmed: All Hell Breaks Loose
2001 – 61*
2001 – Osmosis Jones
2001 – The Beast
2001 – Justice League
2001 – Xena Warrior Princess: You Are There
2001-2006 – Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2001-2005 – One on One
2000 – Nash Bridges : The Messenger
2002 – Odyssey 5
2002 – Life or Something Like It
2002-2004 – Weekend Flash, The
2002 – Mr. Deeds
2002 – Breaking News
2002 – Live From Baghdad
2002 – Good Girl
2002 – Simone
2002-2006 – Less Than Perfect
2002-2004 – Good Morning, Miami
2003 – Scary Movie 3
2003 – Dead Like Me: Curious George
2003 – Advil Commercial
2003 – Wanda at Large
2003 – Bruce Almighty
2003 – Secret Santa
2003 – All of Us
2004 – 4400
2004 – Day After Tomorrow
2004 – Category 6: Day of Destruction
2004 – Crusader
2004 – Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason
2004 – Anchorman: Legend of Ron Burgundy, The
2004 – Boston Legal
2005 – Commercial: Claritin D
2005 – Commercial: Coke With Lime
2005 – Commercial: Volvo
2005 – Commercial: Chex Cereal
2005 – The Dead Zone: Broken Circle
2005 – See Arnold Run
2005 – Commander in Chief
2005 – Criminal Minds: Won’t Get Fooled Again
2005 – CSI: Miami: From the Grave
2006 – Battlestar Galitica: Final Cut
2005 – Category 7
2005 – Hope & Faith: Weather or Not
2005-2006 – The Colbert Report
2005 – How I Met Your Mother
2006 – Commercial: Ambien
2006 – Commercial: British Airways
2006 – Commercial: Glad Commercial
2006 – Commercial T-Mobile Commercial with Vince Carter
2006 – Commercial: Red Bull
2006 – CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: Rashomama
2006 – The Sopranos: Joining the Club
2006 – The West Wing: Election Day 2006
2006 – Pepper Dennis
2006 – Borat