Murrow

In this superb biography, Sperber tells the story of a reporter/commentator who set standards for broadcast news integrity. Part of CBS's fledgling news operation staff, Murrow honed his journalistic skills in London prior to WW II. Before and after the US joined the world conflict, he was describing the horror of Nazism via daily live CBS radio reports--from a rooftop in London during the blitz, from a transport plane during a paratroop drop over the Low Countries, from Buchenwald. Murrow continued to establish standards of reportage with his Hear It Now (on radio), See It Now (television), and CBS Reports (a television program that such covered sensitive issues as exploitation of migrant workers). CBS eventually became intolerant of heavy-duty journalism, and Murrow left the network. He continued to be harshly critical of the soft nature of television news. In 1960, he became head of the United States Information Agency; in 1965, he died of lung cancer at the age of 57. Sperber discusses both the programs and the corporate and political pressures they brought to Murrow. Includes exhaustive and interesting photographs (badly reproduced). Joining such biographies as Alexander Kendrick's Prime Time: The Life of Edward R. Murrow (1969) and Joseph Persico's Edward R. Murrow (1988), Sperber's volume falls short only because of the author's worshipful attitude. All collections. ~—Choice