Raiding the Lost Ark: The Golden Age of TV News Documentary

1. Raiding the Lost Ark:The Golden Age ofTV News Documentary Conclusions Where have we been? Where are we going?

2. From Murrow to MTV • Who produces docs? • Journalists • Producers • Motivation? • Prestige • Avoid regulation • Profit

3. Financing of documentaries Media vs. government Current issues (not past history) Controversial issues (not fluff) Major Themes

4. Early Motivations (1950’s-’60’s) • Enthusiasm of experienced radio journalists (“The Murrow Boys”) • Networks needed to fill air time • TV was a profitable industry & could afford the “luxury” of unprofitable documentary divisions

5. Early Motivations (1950’s-’60’s) • Cold War provided substance • Legacy of WWII provided “patriotism” • Audience demand - not a factor in building the documentary “machines” of NBC and CBS

6. 1950-1958 Docs not expected to make much money 1958 demise of “See It Now” Murrow leaves CBS Increasing pressure to secure “sponsored” docs 1958 - 1963 Sponsored doc heyday Hundreds of hours of docs aired in prime time “lost” revenue from prime-time entertainment shows Profit Motive

7. 1963 - 1968 Increased pressure for doc revenue 1967 100 hours of docs Compared to 400 hours in 1962 It was easy to argue against news docs They produced: More controversy Lower viewership Less revenue Profit Motive

8. News Programming & Revenue • In 1961, networks began to resent the disparity between air time devoted to news documentaries and revenue generated by the news divisions

9. News Programming & Revenue • In 1962, news programming consumed even more time… • … but produced less revenue

10. A Dying Breed

11. Contributing TV Trends • Fading of the quiz-show embarrassments • Reduced interest by sponsors • Seeking bigger audiences • Less controversy • Shift to “breaking news” • Witness of events, rather than interpreter • Non-controversial • Splintering of network audiences (cable TV) • Emergence of all-news channels (1980)

12. Tabloid TV • UC Berkeley students taped news programs for a week in Los Angeles in 1974 • More than half the news stories were about “fire, sex, tear-jerkers, accidents, exorcism” • “60 Minutes” joined the tabloid trend… • …spawning copycat programs now airing on most networks

13. Corporate Media Takeover • Corporate ownership of networks • Loss of independent journalism ethic • GE and NBC • Disney and ABC • AOL and CNN • Corporate interest in rising profits, declining controversy

14. Nowhere to go • Foreign policy diminished as a documentary subject in the 1960’s (after McCarthyism) • Domestic docs proved troublesome for the networks (“Hunger in America,” “Selling of the Pentagon”)

15. Other factors • Documentaries were “elitist” • Seemed aimed at whites (ignoring people of color), males, middle class • Seemed to ignore women and the feminist movement of the 1960’s • Docs intruded on evening entertainment • Docs were too serious for American audiences

16. Documentary lite • Vietnam and Watergate, poverty and hunger, injustice and hate… • …were replaced by history and nature and sports and Hollywood

17. Downsizing the News Divisions • In the 1980’s, as network profits fell, TV news units suffered hundreds of layoffs • Network news bureaus were closed • CBS News, once the pride and envy of the industry, is a shadow of its former self • CBS Reports died in 1985 • NBC and ABC suffering similar fates

18. Should we mourn? • The programs you have seen are pages of history • Some were jewels • Some were watersheds • But it’s not clear that they could draw sizeable audiences in today’s media environment… • … even if they were being produced today

19. A final word • “Surely we shall pay for using this most powerful instrument of communication to insulate the citizenry from the hard and demanding realities which must be faced.” • 1958