Quotations by:
Murrow, Edward R.
No one man can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.
Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) American journalist
See It Now (7 Mar 1954)
(Source)
Comment to the production team before the episode on Senator Joseph R McCarthy’s Communist witch hunt.
If none of us ever read a book that was “dangerous,” had a friend who was “different” or joined an organization that advocated “change,” we would all be just the kind of people Joe McCarthy wants. Whose fault is that? Not really [McCarthy’s]. He didn’t create this situation of fear. He merely exploited it, and rather successfully.
If television and radio are to be used to entertain all of the people all of the time, then we have come perilously close to discovering the real opiate of the people.
Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) American journalist
Interview, Television Magazine (Jul 1957)
(Source)
Also cited in various places as being a speech given at Brandeis University (1958), and (incorrectly) upon receiving the Einstein Award (5 May 1957). Sometimes quoted as "used for the entertainment of the people" and "used for the entertainment of all of the people."
I have an old-fashioned belief that Americans like to make up their own minds on the basis of all available information. The conclusions you draw are your own affair. I have no desire to influence them, and shall leave such efforts to those who have more confidence in their own judgment than I have in mine.
It is not necessary to remind you that the fact that your voice is amplified to the degree where it reaches from one end of the country to the other does not confer upon you greater wisdom or understanding than you possessed when your voice reached only from one end of the bar to the other.
Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) American journalist
Speech, Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), Chicago (15 Oct 1958)
Full speech. Often quoted: "Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar."
If radio news is to be regarded as a commodity, only acceptable when saleable, then I don’t care what you call it — I say it isn’t news.
Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) American journalist
Speech, Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), Chicago (15 Oct 1958)
Full speech.
This instrument can teach. It can illuminate. Yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise, it is merely wires and lights in a box.
The speed of communications is wondrous to behold. It is also true that speed can multiply the distribution of information that we know to be untrue. The most sophisticated satellite has no conscience. The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem of what to say and how to say it.
Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) American journalist
Speech, The Family of Man Award, The Protestant Council of New York (Oct 1964)
(Source)
His last public speech. Reprinted in Alexander Kendrick, Prime Time: The Life of Edward R. Murrow (1969).