Edward R. Mccarthy: The Creation Of The Media

Among societal institutions, only the fourth estate is considered to rival the government. It is widely argued and claimed that McCarthy was a creation of the media in its infinite quest for sensationalism and that McCarthy “used the press” to his advantage (Bayley vii). Regardless of which is true, those in the mainstream and fringe media are to some degree responsible for McCarthy’s rise to power. At the time, 85% of all news published by newspapers about McCarthy were sourced from just three wire services (Bayley 66). Wire service reporters were ambitious, younger and less well-paid reporters, and intense competition bred a demand for them to constantly produce stories (Bayley 67). William Theis, former head of the International News Service …show more content…
Any good politician will try to use the press to produce favorable stories, yet McCarthy went beyond maintaining good relationships with members of the Washington press corp. McCarthy’s success stems from the fact that while he would always try to be friendly with the press, if he couldn’t charm them, he would intimidate and create an atmosphere of fear (Bayley 216). By directly attacking news organizations as aiding communists, McCarthy was able to produce the same fear and hysteria that captivated the American public for years. Even so, negative press was inevitable despite McCarthy’s personal attacks. Edward R. Murrow’s 1954 coverage of McCarthy in See It Now was devastating for the Senator, although even by that time public opinion had already swung against him. Murrow’s reporting was at the tail end of the battle against McCarthyism – Murrow was late to the game. The Washington post was notable for being one of the first newspapers to openly oppose McCarthy’s crusades against communists. The extensive coverage of reporters like Alfred Friendly, calm yet forceful editorials of Alan Barth, and Herblock’s comical yet pointed cartoons lent themselves to some of the best criticisms of McCarthy (Bayley 148). In his usual fashion, McCarthy claimed that the Post was “at the fantastic pinnacles of moronic thinking” (Bayley 148). Newspapers like the Post that criticized McCarthyism early and didn’t shy away when facing criticism later, acted as trailblazers that enabled programs like Murrow’s See It Now to similarly confront and investigate

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Edward R. Mccarthy: The Creation Of The Media

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