By Rachel Grant, Membership Co-Chair, University of Florida, rgrant@jou.ufl.edu
Dr. Mike Conway is an associate professor of journalism at Indiana University’s Media School. He recently wrote Contested Ground: “The Tunnel” and the Struggle Over Television News in Cold War America.
Q: Describe the focus of your book.
A: A 1962 documentary on a Berlin Wall tunnel escape brought condemnation from both sides of the Iron Curtain. The strong reaction was not limited just to the topic, but for the medium itself. The Tunnel was produced for American network television.
The Tunnel controversy and the rise of television news reveal a critical juncture in American journalism and media history as the Cold War entered one of its most dangerous periods. The surprisingly fast ascendance of television news as the country’s top choice for information signaled the public’s acceptance but threatened the self-defined leadership role of print journalism as well as the implicit cooperation among government officials and reporters on Cold War issues.
NBC’s Reuven Frank is at the center of Contested Ground as producer of The Tunnel and creator of the most popular journalism source of the period, NBC’s nightly newscast, “The Huntley-Brinkley Report.” The production and reception of the documentary, and all of television news, bring into focus a major upheaval in American news communication and the boundary work involved as government leaders, journalism competitors, and other groups fought over the shifting media landscape.
Contested Ground has been named the 2020 winner of the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation Broadcast Historian Award. The book is also one of three finalists for the 2020 AEJMC Tankard Book Award.
Q: How did you come across this subject? Why did it interest you?
A: I conducted a couple of oral history interviews with NBC’s Reuven Frank a few years before he died back when I was working on another book project. After spending time with him, I realized I wanted to dig into some part of his career because he played such an important role in the first decades of network television news in America.
After several false starts and dead ends, I turned my focus to his controversial documentary about the Berlin Wall tunnel escape, called “The Tunnel.” I was fascinated both by how he chose to produce the documentary but also by the widespread opposition to the project, from the U.S. Government, both East and West Germany, and by members of the print press in this country. I realized this one documentary would make a good study on the rise of television news in America, the implicit cooperation between journalists and the government in the Cold War, and the disruptive nature of a new technology on the established order.
Q: What archives or research materials did you use?
A: This project took me to many different archives over the years. I was one of the first scholars to work in Reuven Frank’s archives at Tufts University, which is also the home to Edward R. Murrow’s papers. The NBC Archives at the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison was another important resource, as well as the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. The Mass Media and Culture Archive at the University of Maryland at College Park has a great collection of broadcast history. I also relied on the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and the Oral History collection at Columbia University.
Q: How does your book relate to journalism history? How is it relevant to the present?
A: My guiding principle in studying the rise of radio and television journalism in the United States in the mid-twentieth century is that if we knew more about the complications, successes, setbacks, boundary work, and overall details about how broadcasting became part of journalism in the last century, we would be better able to understand and tackle the issues surrounding digital journalism today. Unfortunately, what little has been written about that era can leave the impression that it was an easy and welcome transition. In reality, any change in how we learn about the world starts with upheaval, criticism, turf protection and interesting experiments on what might work in the new media landscape of any era.
Q: What advice you have for other historians working/starting on book projects?
A: If you have never attempted a book before, the key is to realize it is much different than writing a string of journal articles. Book projects tend to take much longer than expected and can be overwhelming. You need to really love the topic because you will be immersed in it for long time. Allow the evidence to take you where you need to go. If the primary sources are not fitting into the ideas in your book proposal, be open to new directions for your project.