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The Day 60 Years Ago That TV News Came Of Age
I've often thought about this over the past few decades and now the Los Angeles Times is confirming it - the moment TV news became more than just another show and stepped up to the plate as an important and influential source of information. It happened on Nov. 22, 1963, the day a simple visit to a Texas city by a U.S. president became the centre of a controversy that still exists today.
It was the Kennedy assassination, of course, and it changed TV news forever from that day forward. And with this being the 60th anniversary of an event that altered history, you can expect to see a lot more about this in the coming weeks.
How the JFK assassination changed TV news and the journalists who covered it 60 years ago
- SpinningWheel
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Re: The Day 60 Years Ago That TV News Came Of Age
Sadly, the video isn't available to Canadian residents without a VPN to switch to the US.
- RadioActive
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Re: The Day 60 Years Ago That TV News Came Of Age
Sorry about that. I forgot my VPN was on. I usually try to test that before posting.
Try this one. It's almost three hours of CBS coverage from the moment As The World Turns started. The first bulletin comes around the 10 minute mark. Amazing that they actually went back to the soap opera after the first dramatic announcement! That would never happen today!
I've heard that the reason they used a slide for the initial announcement was that the cameras weren't ready.
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Thread Starter- BowmanvilleBob
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Re: The Day 60 Years Ago That TV News Came Of Age
I've heard that the reason they used a slide for the initial announcement was that the cameras weren't ready.
True, the technology available in 1963 meant that it took about 20 minutes for the cameras to warm up before they could be used. George Clooney's excellent documentary, One PM Central Standard Time, provides details on how CBS covered the assassination given the limits and logistics of television at the time.
- mace
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The reason you only see breaking coverage of the Kennedy assassination from Walter Kronkite is because CBS was the only network broadcasting in the 1:30pm timeslot. In 1963, ABC and NBC turned over this timeslot to their local affilliates.
- BowmanvilleBob
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Re: The Day 60 Years Ago That TV News Came Of Age
ABC Television's coverage can be sampled here (note the ramshackle state of operations in the newsroom, a reflection of ABC's distant third-place status among the American networks)
NBC's coverage, featuring Chet Huntley, Bill Ryan and Frank McGee, is touted by some as far better than Cronkite's solo effort on CBS. Judge for yourself by visiting here.
- RadioActive
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Re: The Day 60 Years Ago That TV News Came Of Age
On a lighter note, this brings to mind a Saturday Night Live sketch from a few years ago where a guy goes to a party and no one there has ever heard about the Kennedy assassination.
"What! Kennedy was killed? When did that happen?" asks one woman.
Another guest says, "Oh I must have been watching another channel!" To which the partygoer screams, "It was on EVERY channel!"
Shame this one isn't online somewhere.
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