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Private Notes
In Part 1 of the Dawn of the Eye series, the Lumières create a new industry and within ten years powerful news companies are in cutthroat competition around the world. At first a novelty included in vaudeville shows, newsreels would soon be seen by tens of millions of cinema-goers twice a week. Much of what viewers saw was actually staged.
Part 2 of the Dawn of the Eye series. At first, Hollywood studios present sanitized news, presenting a world without Nazis or the Depression. The newsreel is revolutionized by The March of Time which established the standards the industry still works by today. World War II was as much a contest of news machines as of armies.
Part 3 of the Dawn of the Eye series. In the beginning, no one knew quite what to do with the medium that would come to dominate international news coverage. A sense of journalistic purpose only came when radio veterans brought television news relevance and edge by tackling hitherto taboo subjects like racial segregation and McCarthy’s “red baiting.”
Part 4 of the Dawn of the Eye series. By the early '60s, television had become the dominant source of news in North America. Television changed all the equations in the democratic process by giving attention to the forces of protest and political opposition. Learning how governments have tried in vain to control TV news will surprise many viewers.
Part 5 of the Dawn of the Eye series chronicles the golden years of the networks and the birth of the satellite age, as “going live” became the order of the day and anchors became mega-stars. TV news became a power in foreign policy, as images affected the tides of public opinion. Ted Turner is laughed at when he launches CNN.
Part 6 of the Dawn of the Eye series. The Berlin Wall, Tiananmen and the first Gulf War demonstrate that TV news is global, and its presence shapes the events it witnesses. The world of news is changing fundamentally as global news titans emerge. The movies-of-the-week industry feeds off sensational news headlines.
