5. The weekly news show emerged in the early 1950s
Edward R. Murrow was a veteran news reporter and radio broadcaster who became internationally known from his broadcasts from London during the Second World War. Murrow was a veteran of twenty-five bombing missions over Europe, during which he recorded his observations for radio broadcast at a later time, after its approval by the military censors. After the war Murrow was both an executive with CBS and an on air radio reporter who contributed occasional editorials at the end of television newscasts. He also hosted the radio program Hear It Now, which aired investigational programs on CBS Radio. In 1951 Morrow moved the program to television, retitled See It Now.
See It Now became one of the most influential news programs in television history, the seed from which sprang 60 Minutes, 20/20, and numerous other investigative news shows and specials. See It Now was instrumental in exposing to the public the demagoguery of Senator Joseph McCarthy, using footage of McCarthy himself in hearings and interviews which revealed the anti-communist hysteria which the Senator had largely created with his own mind, damaging the reputations and careers of civil servants needlessly, with no evidence to support his accusations. Morrow’s penchant for taking on controversial subjects and creating controversy of his own led to the program ending in 1958.