Using the Broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow In the Classroom Frank Baker, media educator Media Literacy Clearinghouse iPods, Blogs and Beyond: Evolving Media Literacy for the 21st Century 2007 Annual Conference

Using the Broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow In the Classroom “This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box.”

Central Questions Who was Edward R. Murrow ? What role did he play in American/ broadcasting history ? Why is he important? Can we use his broadcasts (radio, TV) to improve listening/writing skills?

Using the Broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow In the Classroom "...totally controlled and brilliant as a communicator, a man who spanned the oceans and who more than anyone else made broadcasting respectable for a generation of other talented broadcasters...." David Halberstam, from The Powers That Be

Using the Broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow In the Classroom What do you want your students to know about Edward R. Murrow?

Murrow Timeline Born 4/25/08; Died 4/27/ joins CBS Based in London during WWII April Buchenwald broadcast Nov.1951-July 1958 See It Now airs on CBS March McCarthy program Oct famous RTNDA Speech November 1960 Harvest of Shame doc

Good Night, And Good Luck Lesson plans to the film

Connection to standards Most ELA (English Language Arts) standards include: Reading Writing Listening Speaking and Viewing

Listening English Language Arts Standard 8. Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes Grade 6-8 Understands elements of persuasion and appeal in spoken texts (e.g., purpose and impact of pace, volume, tone, stress, music; images and ideas conveyed by vocabulary)

International Listening Association Listening (ILA, 1996): the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken and/or nonverbal messages

Listening questions to consider listen for his carefully chosen words in what ways does he paint pictures or create images? listen for his delivery and/or emphasis on certain words/phrases listen for pauses in delivery (and discuss reasons or impact of same) listen for his tone and/or inflection listen for any background sounds which might provide clues to helping the audience understand what is happening listen for how problems/situations are presented listen for what possible solutions he might offer listen for ways in which he challenges the audience

Murrow on writing "Writing for television is not unlike writing for radio. It must be the language of speech, lean copy, sparing of adjectives, letting the pictures and the action and the indigenous sound create the mood, and then maybe a few words--the fewer the better." (Source: Foreword to "See it Now: A Selection in Texts and Pictures" edited by Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly, Copyright 1955)

TIME Magazine on Murrow “His timing can make silence more eloquent than words. Between his ominous tone and his spare, understated writing springs a tension suggesting that, as one listener put it,‘he knows the worst but will try not to mention it.’” TIME, Sept. 30, 1957

Listening to Murrow World War II Liberation of Buchenwald

Listening to Murrow See It Now: McCarthy RTNDA Speech

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