It’s June 1942.
A backstairs contact tells Edward R. Murrow that he can arrange a face-to-face interview with Der Fuehrer. There will be certain ground rules as to what Murrow may and may not ask, but Germany will guarantee Murrow safe passage into the Third Reich and will also guarantee his return to England after the interview.
It’s an amazing “get” for a reporter and an opportunity for Adolf Hitler to make his case to the American people.
Especially if the ground rules say that Murrow cannot ask any questions about what’s happening to the Jews in German-controlled Europe. And if once Hitler answers a question, Murrow isn’t allowed to press him with followups on the same subject.
It would come as no surprise to anyone old enough to remember journalism that no self-respecting reporter alive in 1942 would agree to an interview under those terms. There would be numerous reasons for that, not the least of which being that what we now call “whataboutism” didn’t exist. There was no desire to treat evil as just another legitimate choice.
An interview that took place earlier this week demonstrated perfectly why no one will ever mistake Tucker Carlson for a journalist, let alone for Murrow. Carlson flew to Moscow to do an interview with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and the results were a disaster for what used to be called journalism.
It’s no shock Putin wanted Carlson to do the interview. The former Fox talker is one of the few American pundits who has openly supported Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
When Carlson asked Putin how the war could be ended, the Russian said it would be over in a couple of weeks if the U.S. would stop supplying arms to Ukraine. An actual journalist might have followed up with a suggestion that it could be over tomorrow if Russia were to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
Of course, Carlson isn’t a real journalist.
Ed Murrow must be spinning in his grave.