Yesterday I saw "Good Nght and Good Luck", the George Clooney movie on Edward R. Murrow's confrontation with Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy. It's very, very good - spare, well-written, restrained. But here is what struck me:
Murrow's famous speech to the Radio-TV News directors Association suggested that television was shirking its duty by doing entertainment rather than devoting time, money and energy to news and public affairs.
It didn't happen that way. What came to pass, of course, is that entertainment infiltrated and captured news and public affairs. The documentaries are gone, replaced by news magazines that are more entertaining than probing. Evening newscasts contain a little less news content, a lot less foreign news (war reports excepted) and rely heavily on features. Morning TV is almost pure entertainment aimed at a specific demographic - women 18-35. And local TV news isn't news; for the most part, it illustrates the police blotter.