1115.org

With George Clooney’s new movie about Edward R. Murrow and Joseph McCarthy, Good Night and Good Luckout this weekend, the AP interviews former Murrow colleague Daniel Schorr:

AP: What does journalism today lack that it had in the Murrow years, and in what ways is it better?

Daniel Schorr: Things are better today in one respect — the technology, the ability to take a very small camera and go into chaotic situations. The journalism today is really just, to a large part, turning a camera on a situation. It’s really a strange kind of journalism because you really don’t have to do anything but get the camera there and describe what you’re seeing. Other than that, everything is worse.

Two years ago I attended a panel event with Schorr, Helen Thomas, and the AP’s Scott Lindlaw. Though in his late 80s, Schorr made many excellent points about changes in the media, most notably the deference shown to the administration in the name of patriotism (or more accurately in the name of not being labeled “anti-American.) Schorr is the last contemporary of Murrow’s still working as a journalist, and the ideal of getting the story no matter what is just as rare. The Schorr interview is worth a read, and Clooney’s movie looks to be a must-see.