My Native Land
Morgan, Edward P.
My Native Land by EDWARD P. MORGAN Edward P. Morgan, the noted news commentator, recently completed a twelve-year tour of duty as nightly newscaster on ABC for the AFL-CIO. In his farewell...
...It is called the power of the press...
...Or we flee to the beaches of frantic leisure only to be sunburned by the guilt of our wanton negligence...
...The excerpts below from ,his farewell newscast June 16 provide a sample of why his commentaries became so celebrated and why so many of us look forward to his new career in public television...
...But there is an instrument of devastating effectiveness which we have only superficially, often hypocritically, employed...
...We in the trade use this power more frequently to fix a traffic ticket or get a free ticket to a ball game than to keep the doors of an open society open and swinging, by encouraging honest controversy, or, if you'll pardon the term, crusading for truth and justice...
...Amid the most incredible riches and the most terrifying power any nation has ever accumulated in the history of man, we are plunged into divisive turmoil...
...And where were the Detroit reporters, incidentally, before Nader came along...
...But in our obeisance before the altar of profit and free enterprise we have let the lust for material things get the better of us...
...But instead of the sacred dignity of the individual human being, too many of us worship dividends and private property more...
...Why...
...Nothing is so important as people...
...The Editors T am deeply concerned about the conditions and moods now rampant in this, my native land...
...My Native Land by EDWARD P. MORGAN Edward P. Morgan, the noted news commentator, recently completed a twelve-year tour of duty as nightly newscaster on ABC for the AFL-CIO...
...There is enough wrong in this republic to merit a full-scale expose daily, if not every hour on the hour...
...In his farewell broadcast Morgan expressed great appreciation to the AFL-CIO for giving him complete freedom of editorial judgment, and "for its patience and record longevity of sponsorship despite my repeated biting of the hand that helped feed me—by criticizing organized labor, its leaders, and its policies—when I felt such criticism warranted" Mr...
...Instead of trying to solve our problems we organize hate groups to blame the other fellow...
...It is not the policy of General Motors to kill or maim people...
...Where were the press and the rest of the power structure, including labor leaders, in the disgraced and bleeding cities of our country before its black citizens exploded their frustration in savage fury...
...It is not the policy of the newspapers and broadcasting stations of Connecticut to suppress vital news...
...Nothing in life is free...
...Yet where was the press of that state when the shocking revelations about Senator Thomas Dodd were coming out...
...The honestly concerned citizens, right, left and center, are the nuclei, not of black power or white power, but positive power which can make representative government work...
...But newspapers run prize contests to lure readers or keep the ones they have...
...I think I know why...
...The nation's situation is not hopeless...
...If I have been emboldened to speak out in this corner it is because I know I have not been talking to myself...
...Morgan is now embarking on a major assignment in public television under a Ford Foundation grant...
...But their power has not been sufficiently turned on because the press has been too busy neuterizing the news to clear comfortable, non-controversial space for the full-page advertisement and the singing commercial...
...The situation is so bad the commercials, even in their saturation, are often better than the programs they support...
...Has it occurred to an editor or broadcaster, in Connecticut or out, that the Senator's tortured employes might not have passed the incriminating documents over the transom to Drew Pearson if they had believed the Connecticut press would have responded to any first friendly tips with the enterprising courage Pearson did...
...Broadcasting is driving thoughtful citizens away in droves by fertilizing the wastelands of the airwaves with the manure of utter mediocrity...
...My most painful duty tonight is to take leave of a loyal, thoughtful listening audience...
...It simply begs for responsible, sustained attention...
...There is no miracle drug or magic ointment to cure or quiet this situation...
...But that became its operating policy in order "to protect its investment," when instead of correcting flaws it knew its cars had, it set a gumshoe detective on the trail of Ralph Nader, hoping to discover some sexual or other deviation that would discredit Nader's now vindicated expertise in revealing that few cars are safe at any speed...
Vol. 31 • August 1967 • No. 8
