Editing Joseph McCarthy (section)

===Edward R. Murrow, ''See It Now''===

[[File:Edward r murrow challenge of ideas screenshot 2.jpg|thumb|right|[[Edward R. Murrow]], pioneer in broadcast journalism.]]
Even before McCarthy's clash with Welch in the hearings, one of the most prominent attacks on McCarthy's methods was an episode of the television documentary series ''[[See It Now]]'', hosted by journalist [[Edward R. Murrow]], which was broadcast on March 9, 1954. Titled "A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy", the episode consisted largely of clips of McCarthy speaking. In these clips, McCarthy accuses the Democratic party of "twenty years of treason", describes the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] as "listed as 'a front for, and doing the work of', the Communist Party",<ref>{{cite web
  |title = Transcript – See it Now: A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy
  |publisher = CBS-TV
  |date = March 9, 1954
|url = http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/murrowmccarthy.html
  |access-date = February 15, 2015
|archive-date = November 10, 2015
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151110194223/http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/murrowmccarthy.html
  |url-status = live
  }}</ref> and berates and harangues various witnesses, including General Zwicker.<ref>{{cite book |last=Burns |first=Eric |date=2010|title=Invasion of the Mind Snatchers: Television's Conquest of America in the Fifties |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=quEq4ICW96UC&pg=PA175 |location=Philadelphia|publisher=Temple University Press |page=175 |isbn=978-1-4399-0288-2}}</ref>

In his conclusion, Murrow said of McCarthy:

{{Blockquote|No one familiar with the history of this country can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating, but the line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one, and the junior Senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly. His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between the internal and the external threats of Communism. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men—not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.

This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.

The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it—and rather successfully. [[Gaius Cassius Longinus|Cassius]] was right: [[Julius Caesar (play)|"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."]]<ref>{{cite web
  |title = Transcript – See it Now: A Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy
  |publisher = CBS-TV
  |date = March 9, 1954
  |url = http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/murrowmccarthy.html
  |access-date = March 9, 2008
  |archive-date = November 10, 2015
  |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151110194223/http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/murrowmccarthy.html
  |url-status = live
  }}</ref>
}}

The following week, ''See It Now'' ran another episode critical of McCarthy, this one focusing on the case of [[Annie Lee Moss]], an African-American army clerk who was the target of one of McCarthy's investigations. The Murrow shows, together with the televised Army–McCarthy hearings of the same year, were the major causes of a nationwide popular opinion backlash against McCarthy,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/03/04/archives/murrow-vs-mccarthy-see-it-now.html |title=Murrow vs. McCarthy |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 4, 1979 |author=Joseph Wershba |access-date=August 19, 2017 |quote=CBS said it was the greatest spontaneous response in the history of broadcasting: 12,348 telephone calls and telegrams in the first few hours ... 11,567 of these supported Murrow. |archive-date=August 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190825183907/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/03/04/archives/murrow-vs-mccarthy-see-it-now.html |url-status=live }}</ref> in part because for the first time his statements were being publicly challenged by noteworthy figures. To counter the negative publicity, McCarthy appeared on ''See It Now'' on April 6, 1954, and made a number of charges against the popular Murrow, including the accusation that he colluded with [[VOKS]], the "Russian espionage and propaganda organization".<ref>{{cite web |title = Transcript – Senator Joseph R. McCarthy: Reply to Edward R. Murrow, See It Now |publisher = CBS-TV |date = April 6, 1954 |url = http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/murrowmccarthy2.html |access-date = February 15, 2009 |archive-date = March 7, 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090307063143/http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/murrowmccarthy2.html |url-status = live }}</ref> This response did not go over well with viewers, and the result was a further decline in McCarthy's popularity.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}}