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A. Brad Schwartz

@abradschwartz.bsky.social

6K followers 1.7K following 1K posts

Historian of Media, Fake News, and Propaganda. Author/Co-Author of BROADCAST HYSTERIA; SCARFACE AND THE UNTOUCHABLE; ELIOT NESS AND THE MAD BUTCHER. Michigan Wolverine with a Princeton PhD.

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A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · Apr 29

UPDATE: They passed me!

All thanks to my PhD committee—@zelizer.bsky.social, Paul Starr, @kevinmkruse.bsky.social, and Sam Freedman (not pictured)—for their probing questions and excellent feedback as I work to tell Edward R. Murrow’s story.

(And to Mr. Clooney, for his moral support…)

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A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 19h

Got to know @samlitzinger.bsky.social!

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 2d

www.rtdna.org/murrows-famo...

Murrow's Famous "Wires and Lights in a Box" - Radio Television Digital News Association

www.rtdna.org

A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 2d

One of my favorite Ed Murrow quotes, which I think captures part of what made him great:

“…your voice, amplified to the degree where it reaches from one end of the country to the other, does not confer upon you greater wisdom than when your voice reached only from one end of the bar to the other.”

Sam Litzinger @samlitzinger.bsky.social · 2d

Edward R. Murrow

CBS News

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Reposted by A. Brad Schwartz

Sam Litzinger @samlitzinger.bsky.social · 2d

Douglas Edwards
Walter Cronkite
Edward R. Murrow

CBS News

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A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 6d

a man in a police uniform and tie is talking on a cell phone .

Alt: Costello stammering

media.tenor.com

A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 6d

When I was a kid, I had the privilege of hearing Bill Vincent, a professor at Michigan State who taught Sam Raimi, use this scene to explain the close relationship between comedy and horror, and it forever changed how I think about both. www.youtube.com/watch?v=APao...

Wilbur Sits on Frankenstein's Monster | Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein | Fear

YouTube video by Fear: The Home Of Horror

www.youtube.com

A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 6d

Still the greatest Halloween movie ever made.

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A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 7d

Congrats again! Can’t wait to read this one!

a man with a mustache is saying it 's so it 's so beautiful

Alt: a man with a mustache is saying it 's so it 's so beautiful

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by A. Brad Schwartz

Tony Clark @anthonyclark.bsky.social · 7d

BREAKING: sources say NARA has forced out Dr. Todd Arrington, the federal director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, after he declined to allow the Trump administration to remove a sword from the library for a gift to King Charles

lastcampaign.substack.com/p/exclusive-...

EXCLUSIVE: NARA Ousts Eisenhower Library Director Over Proposed Trump Gift to King Charles

The director, a historian and Army veteran, declined to allow the Trump administration to remove a priceless artifact from the library's permanent collection

lastcampaign.substack.com

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A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 7d

That famous line about how Churchill “mobilized the English language and sent it into battle” comes from Murrow (though DARKEST HOUR, in one of its most grievous historical sins, puts it into the mouth of Lord Halifax).

a man wearing glasses and a bow tie looks at something

Alt: a man wearing glasses and a bow tie looks at something

media.tenor.com

A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 7d

Edward R. Murrow played a crucial and, I think, under-appreciated role in building the Churchill myth in America, precisely because he recognized Churchill’s symbolic importance as a defender of democracy.

Kris Stoever @krisstoever.bsky.social · 7d

Important for liberals to defend the "moral architecture of the 20th century" and "Churchill’s memory." (Don't forget de Gaulle and the Free French and the Fifth Republic.)

www.liberalcurrents.com/a-popular-fr...

A Popular Front of Memory

As the right begins to revise their view of Hitler, we must revive the example Churchill set in that era.

www.liberalcurrents.com

A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 7d

Back in February, for its 75th anniversary, I wrote a piece about Joe McCarthy’s “Enemies Within” speech and how the terribly flawed press coverage of it – even more than what he may or may not have actually said – catapulted him to national prominence and power:

time.com/7213586/medi...

Reposted by A. Brad Schwartz

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 8d

Barbara Gomes Marques is documentary filmmaker who risks imminent deportation to Brazil. Loud voices in the film community could be especially helpful right now.

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 9d

Horrifying— Barbara Gomes Marques went with her US citizen husband and lawyer on 9/16 to a green card appointment at USCIS office in downtown LA where she was tricked into walking down a hallway away from them, was snatched by ICE and never came back. She now faces imminent deportation in Louisiana.

Los Angeles man demands answers after wife was detained at scheduled green card meeting

A man is speaking out and asking for help after his wife was detained by federal agents at the end of a scheduled green card hearing in downtown Los Angeles in early September.

www.cbsnews.com

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Reposted by A. Brad Schwartz

The History on Film Podcast @historyonfilm.bsky.social · 9d

This is the first in a series of episodes this season (starting with Josh, next with @abradschwartz.bsky.social) about Media/News/Politics that I am nicknaming "Enter the Murrowverse". The History of NPR/PBS this week, "Good Night and Good Luck" in November, "Network" in ???

Josh Shepperd @joshshepperd.bsky.social · 9d

Delighted to have joined the History of Film podcast to discuss why public media matters.

Shadow of the New Deal with Josh Shepperd | The History on Film Podcast

American Public Broadcasting

shows.acast.com

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A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 9d

Couldn’t agree more! That’s why I helped the @umich.edu Library put all the fan mail from Orson Welles’s WAR OF THE WORLDS broadcast online.

I can say from experience it’s a great tool for getting students thinking about media literacy, misinformation, “fake news,” etc…

quod.lib.umich.edu/w/wow/

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A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 10d

Just happened to watch this explainer, which indicates that VistaVision projection is only at 4 theaters in NYC, LA, Boston, and London. (Seeing it in 70mm IMAX myself!) youtu.be/zW_d8XOB2Nc?...

VistaVision Expert: The Best Film Format to Watch One Battle After Another

YouTube video by Perf Damage Podcast

youtu.be

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A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 10d

Age yourself with a film you saw in a cinema as a kid

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A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 10d

Oxford, East Lansing, now Grand Blanc—and that’s just the ones near my hometown.

Grieving for the victims of this shooting, and all the others—and outraged that our country won’t stop this preventable horror.

Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 10d

WJLT TV - At least 2 dead, 8 injured in mass shooting at a Mormon church near Flint, Michigan. www.abc12.com/news/crime/at-l...

At least 2 dead, 8 injured in mass shooting at Grand Blanc church

A gunman opened fire inside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township during Sunday services, before apparently setting the building ablaze.

www.abc12.com

A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 15d

www.google.com/books/editio...

A History of Broadcasting in the United States

Tells how radio and television became an integral part of American life, of how a toy became an industry and a force in politics, business, education, religion, and international affairs.

www.google.com

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A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 15d

During the 50s Red Scare, coordinated pressure on advertisers was one of the most effective tactics for forcing people off the air.

Because, as Erik Barnouw’s history of broadcasting points out, it gave companies an economic excuse to act.

But such pressure can get people back *on* the air, too…

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 15d

Find the Nexstar station nearest to you, note the ads during the local news and contact the advertisers

List here: www.nexstar.tv/stations/

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A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 16d

Just got out of my IMAX screening. Pleased to report that APOLLO 13 is still a perfect movie.

(And even after 30 years, I still, somehow, have the phrase “Main Bus B Undervolt” seared in my memory…)

A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 17d

Exposition doesn’t get much smarter than the first few minutes of APOLLO 13, when Kevin Bacon delivers crucial information on how the spacecraft works with a beer bottle, a pint glass, and an innuendo

Talking to a blonde woman, Kevin Bacon explains the Apollo spacecraft with a pint glass and beer bottle

A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 18d

This part is a close second: youtu.be/sOt-G2LVgfI?...

Mr. Beale Has Meddled With the Primal Forces of Nature (Clip) | Network (1976) | TCM

YouTube video by Turner Classic Movies

youtu.be

A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 18d

Intergalactic Back To The Future Intergalactic Quality GIF

Alt: Marty McFly says “I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it.”

media.tenor.com

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A. Brad Schwartz @abradschwartz.bsky.social · 18d

Paddy Chayefsky’s script for NETWORK is very likely the greatest screenplay ever written, and that exchange is the first thing that comes to mind whenever I think about it (as I often do).

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