At a career nadir, Murrow delivered in part this speech at the Radio-Television News Directors Association in Chicago in 1958:
"I have no tecnical advice or counsel to offer those of you who labor in this vinyard that produces words and pictures. You wil forgive me for not telling you the instruments with which you work are miraculous, that your responsibility is unprecedented, or that your aspirations are frequently frustrated. 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 grater wisdom or undestanding that you possessed when your voice reached only from one end of the bar to the other . . ."
I think, right now, it's necessary for that reminder, particularly to those shouting the loudest on the internet.
There are times to speak. But most of the time should be spent shuttin' up and doing some hard listening. And not listening to react, but listening to understand.
No comments:
Post a Comment