Friendlyvision

March 1, 2009
The man behind Murrow and much more.

Engelman (Journalism/Long Island Univ.; Public Radio and Television in America: A Political History, 1996) examines the life and career of influential and controversial news producer Fred Friendly (1915–98), best known for his long association with crusading journalist Edward R. Murrow. Born Ferdinand F. Wachenheimer, Friendly was one of the most profoundly influential figures in the history of broadcast journalism. After successfully producing a series of innovative news programs for radio, he caught the attention of CBS News, where he teamed with Murrow to create Hear It Now and See It Now, radio and TV documentary series that re-created historic events for audiences. The Friendly/Murrow partnership capitalized on these successes to pursue increasingly provocative subject matter, such as an investigation of Senator Joseph McCarthy's anticommunist campaign, that frequently brought them into conflict with CBS founder William Paley. Named head of CBS News in 1964, Friendly resigned his post two years later when the network refused to preempt a rerun of I Love Lucy for live coverage of the Senate Foreign Relation Committee's hearings on Vietnam. Dramatic, outsized, principled and self-promoting (he sent his letter of resignation to the New York Times), this action encapsulated the many contradictions at the heart of Friendly's persona. Quotes from colleagues and friends describe him by turns as dynamic and domineering, warm and bullying and passionately idealistic and wearyingly petulant. Friendly continued to wield vast influence over his field after leaving CBS. He taught at Columbia's Journalism School, established a highly regarded series of public seminars on media and virtually invented the concept of public television. Engelman's comprehensive research—he cites the dyslexic Ferd Wachenheimer's school report cards—brings his driven subject into vivid relief. The prose may be dryly academic, but the man, his times and his achievements come through.

A substantial and useful study of the underknown pioneer whose conviction and energy did much to shape the content and character of American broadcast journalism.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 15, 2009
Friendly is the man who brought Edward R. Murrow into television and later developed the Public Broadcasting System, putting his huge fingerprints on American television in its first 40 years. Journalism scholar Engelman chronicles the life and career of this volatile man, whose memory elicited strong emotions in colleagues interviewed for the book. Although Murrow and Friendly gained heroic status for standing up to McCarthyism, Engelman notes that the pair were late in challenging the rabid anti-communism that put many colleagues on a blacklist. Together, Friendly and Murrow burnished CBS Reports into a major news feature. Friendlys incendiary temper, challenging CBS corporate heads over coverage of the Vietnam War, led to his departure. But it moved him on to head the Ford Foundation, where he realized an old dream of a public-supported television network. Friendly later went on to the Columbia University journalism school, where he insisted on recruiting more minorities into television. A big man with a big ego, Friendly was so passionate and visionary that his ideals came to be known as Friendlyvision.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)