Editing Howard K. Smith (section)

===Civil Rights reporting: Who Speaks for Birmingham?===
Reporting on civil-rights riots in Birmingham in the early 1960s, Smith revealed the conspiracy that existed between police commissioner [[Bull Connor]] and the [[KKK]] to beat up black people and [[Freedom Riders]]. He planned to end his report "Who Speaks for Birmingham?" (broadcast date: May 18, 1961<ref>{{Citation |title=Howard K. Smith on getting fired from CBS - EMMYTVLEGENDS.ORG |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrVGDUN-Wa8 |access-date=2023-03-17 |language=en}}</ref> with a quote from [[Edmund Burke]], "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing," but the CBS lawyers intervened. Nonetheless, the documentary caused a stir (leading CBS to be sued and its Birmingham TV station to disaffiliate), and because his contract with [[CBS]] forbade editorializing, Smith was suspended and subsequently fired by CBS President [[William S. Paley]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mitgang |first=Herbert |date=16 April 1996 |title=HOWARD K. SMITH: TV HISTORY |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/04/16/howard-k-smith-tv-history/1134ceca-32b0-4ece-a9c5-1a205c50128e/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Television in America: An Autobiography - Howard K. Smith | date=October 21, 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-SWbG0zgZ8 |access-date=2023-03-17 |language=en}}</ref>