“Harvest of Shame” was aired in the 1960s by Edward Murrow. The goal was to enlighten the citizens about the poverty in the state and the agriculture workers’ struggles. Murrow intended to use the television as a means of public education because he believed that people who are willing to learn would be able to achieve this with the TV. This paper will reflect on Murrow’s “Harvest of Shame” and discuss the implications of it for others.
Murrow uses television as a medium for public education and succeeds in changing the nationals’ perceptions of poverty. Murrow argues that the TV “can teach” but only in case people are determined to learn (hollywoodpatriot, n.d.). Hence, he uses the television as a means of public education to spread the information he collected. Although not all individuals who see this issue on TV will become educated on the topic and will seek more knowledge, there will be a percentage of people affected by this TV program.
The use of television as a medium to deliver the message matters. Alternatively to this, Murrow could have used the radio to communicate the poverty statistics and the increasing rates of poverty in a region. However, radio as a communications medium is very limited in terms of the content that it delivers to the listeners. The television allows seeing the real-life footage from the poor neighborhoods.
The selection of the medium that will be used to deliver information is essential for creating a cohesive communications strategy. McLuhan (1998) argues that the “medium is the message,” implying that the method under which the message is delivered is as important as the actual message. In the “Harvest of Shame,” Murrow shows how agriculture workers in America, who are predominantly African-American, struggle to earn enough money to provide for themselves. The medium of this message is video, the author and director show clips of African-Americans in their communities. Thus, choosing a medium that will complement the ideas that the author wants to discuss is essential.
A TV signal is merely a physical impulse, a set of lights that do not contribute anything to the improvement of the public’s understanding of anything. McLuhan (1998) argues that this example “is a medium without a message” (p. 1). However, the nature of this medium and why it was selected to convey the message is just as important as the actual message.
Arguably, Murrow’approach is similar to that of the contemporary journalists. Most stories that are brought to the attention of the viewer feature not only an explanation from a host but also footage from the place of an event and commentary from the journalist. However, there are distinct differences because Murrow’s “Harvest of Shame” lasts for almost an hour. Most of the contemporary broadcast television programs prefer to have short stories. After seeing these stories, the viewer is exposed to a discussion between a host and their quests, which also differentiates Murrow’s work from contemporary broadcast journalism.
Murrow’s work prompted a social change because he succeeded in showing the audience the tragic consequences of poverty and the struggles of the state’s agriculture workers. He has shown the poverty of the agriculture workers in “The Harvest of Shame,” where television viewers were able to witness the footage from this disadvantaged communication. The selection of the medium and Murrow’s thorough approach to managing this allowed “The Harvest of Shame” to become a learning experience for the nation.
References
hollywoodpatriot. (n.d.). Good night, and good luck. Youtube. Web.
McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding media. McGraw Hill Education.