Don Hewitt: the “Murrow Boy” who transformed storytelling

By John Durante

After Walter Cronkite’s death, Don Hewitt’s recent passing drops the curtain on the seminal line of storytellers in American electronic journalism. One of the last of the Murrow Boys, Hewitt was at the birth of television news and during most of his professional life, was a dominant force within it.

Most students of television (and many regular folks) know that he invented 60 Minutes and in so doing, created a completely new style of news storytelling. But few know that Hewitt’s mammoth contribution comes from a line of journalists schooled by Edward R. Murrow.

For those who don’t recall, Murrow was to World War II radio storytelling what Tiger Woods is to professional golf. Widely loved on both sides of the pond from his reports in London and in the European theater of war, Murrow returned stateside after the Allied victory in 1945 and continued crafting news stories on radio and then its new spawn, television. All the while (first in Britain and then later in New York), Murrow helped develop an expansive team of journalist storytellers, including Sevareid, Hottelet, Collingwood, Smith, Edwards, Cronkite, Schorr, Marvin Kalb and as a producer who rose to work with and lead them, Hewitt.

It was Hewitt, who without peer, transferred the tightly written, analytical style of “Murrow” radio journalism into a more modern “tell me a story with pictures approach” that dominated TV news late into the 20^th century. Like good storytellers everywhere, context was everything to Hewitt and those who taught him. But like virtually no one else before him, Hewitt created context through pictures, video editing and the juxtaposition of so many “he said/she said” storyline elements. He also invented one of the most famous camera techniques in all of journalism.

The so-called “60 Minutes shot” was a close up on a story protagonist (usually in interview form) that was so “tight”, so intimate, that viewers could see beads of sweat build on a person’s face. It was a visual tour de force–and when married with all the other story telling techniques of the Murrow school, it often created groundbreaking journalism and riveting television, but above all else, great storytelling.

For his entire professional life Hewitt lived by a four-word adage when referring to his audiences: “Tell them a story” was his mantra. His practice of this was genuine, influential in shaping future styles of storytelling and one of the most important ideas passed onto him by the titans of American broadcast journalism.

John Durante is senior marketing associate for WordWrite Communications.

August 28 2009 | Communications and Media and Public Relations and Storytelling | No Comments »

keiuvmy9×2

August 27 2009 | Uncategorized | No Comments »

Social media: is the “New Evolution” the same as the old?

By John Durante

The insightful and frequently provocative Brain Solis recently posted an excellent blog on the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) intent to regulate “paid” and “non-paid” Twitter activity. His post thoroughly explores the issues and mechanics of such a move. I highly recommended it.

As efforts increase to monetize the enormous and growing amount of social media activity, those of us in marketing and public relations who rely on social media should expect more discussion about industry self-regulation, consumer protection, posting standards and the like. Naturally, broad disagreement will emerge from opposing corners about the need for “standards” in the first place and certainly about any government regulation. But amid the deafening and rapidly growing cacophony of new media platforms and their application in both social and commercial communication, it’s wise to recall these discussions are a natural part of “media evolution” in American culture. That’s been true since Sarnoff first flipped a radio switch.

In fact, broadcast historians might recognize the similarities between the chaos at the beginning days of commercial American radio and what we now face in the social media world. When radio first appeared, nothing regulated it except the speed at which manufacturers could build and get receivers into the hands of consumers. The licensing of frequencies, time of on-air operation, accountability in using the public’s electromagnetic radio spectrum and wattage of signal were all issues that had yet to be confronted. And it showed.

Stations frequently “blew one another off the air”, not through better programming, but via their signal strength. This continued until Congress acted in 1927 and under Secretary of Commerce Hoover (yes that Hoover), formed the Federal Radio Commission. Through the Commission’s efforts of assigning frequencies and station “power,” broadcasters could freely communicate without signal interference. Over time, under the successor Federal Communications Commission, additional regulations, court challenges of the government’s efforts, voluntary industry standards, new public licensing procedures and technological advancements rapidly transformed radio from a cacophony of carnival barkers to a forceful and important American industry.

I can only wonder: is the next period in the development of social media going to be the 1920s revisited?

John Durante is senior marketing associate for WordWrite Communications.

August 03 2009 | Communications and Media and Public Relations and social media | 1 Comment »