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Howard K. Smith: News and Comment (view source)
Revision as of 15:08, October 30, 2020
, 15:08, October 30, 2020Created page with "'''''Howard K. Smith: News and Comment''''' was a half-hour [ABC news and documentary program hosted by commentator Howard K. Smith](1914–2002), which aired from Februar..."
'''''Howard K. Smith: News and Comment''''' was a half-hour [[[ABC]] news and documentary program hosted by commentator Howard K. Smith](1914–2002), which aired from February 14, 1962, to June 16, 1963. It was broadcast at the 10:30 Eastern time slot on Sundays opposite [[CBS]]'s long-running quiz show, ''What's My Line?,'' hosted by John Charles Daly, himself the first ever ABC News anchorman<ref>Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', New York: Penguin Books, 1996, 4th ed., pp. 395 and appendix.</ref> and a son-in-law of Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]] of the [[United States Supreme Court]].
In 1961, Smith left CBS News because of a dispute about a documentary that he produced on [[police]] violence against [[civil rights]] demonstrators in [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]], [[Alabama]]. He then joined ABC, where his contract stipulated that neither the network nor sponsors could interfere with the content of his program.<ref name=guardian>{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2002/feb/20/guardianobituaries.haroldjackson|title=Harold Jackson, Obituaries, "Howard K Smith: Legendary US broadcaster famed for his independence|publisher=guardian.co.uk| location=London | date=February 20, 2002 | accessdate=May 4, 2010}}</ref>
While at CBS, Smith hosted the documentary program ''Behind the News with Howard K. Smith'' for twenty-one weeks from January 11 to September 20, 1959. Selected episodes focused on [[communism]] in [[Cuba]], the status of [[Berlin]], [[Germany, the [[Cold War]], [[Charles de Gaulle]], [[Nikita Khrushchev]] (two parts), [[unemployment]] in depressed areas, and the St. Lawrence Seaway.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052446/|title=''Behind the News with Howard K. Smith'' (1959)|publisher=Internet Movie Data Base|accessdate=October 30, 2020}}</ref>
Smith's ''News and Comment'' began early in 1962. On November 11, five days after mid-term elections were held on November 6, Smith broadcast a program entitled "The Political Obituary of [[Richard M. Nixon]]", which proved highly controversial as well as premature. He included an interview with Nixon nemesis [[Alger Hiss]], the Cold War convicted [[perjury|perjurer]] from [[Massachusetts]], as well as remarks from Nixon loyalist Murray Chotiner. Some said that Smith's program in the long-run benefited Nixon's six-year political comeback because there was a backlash of sympathy caused by Hiss's appearance.<ref name=mbc>{{cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/smithhoward/smithhoward.htm|title=Smith, Howard K.|publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications|location=[[Washington D.C.]], accessdate=December 29, 2008}}</ref>
While ABC stood behind Smith when the outcry erupted over the program, sponsors became increasingly difficult to find. ''Howard K. Smith: News and Comment'' was hence replaced in a revised format simply entitled ''ABC News Reports.<ref name=guardian/> After ''News and Comment'' Smith hosted ABC's Sunday afternoon half-hour interview program, then known as ''Issues and Answers'' (now the hour-long ''This Week''.<ref name=mbc/>
A native of Ferriday in Concordia Parish in eastern [[Louisiana]], Smith remained at ABC from 1962 to 1979, when he resigned because the network reduced the time allowed for his on-air commentaries. During the Nixon administration, Smith began to express more [[conservative]] views, particularly in regard to the [[Vietnam War]]. He hosted an hour-long interview with President Nixon in the [[White House]] in 1971. After he left ABC, Smith went on the lecture circuit, wrote his memoirs, and, befitting his patrician mannerisms, was cast in bit parts in such [[film]]s, as ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind,'' ''Nashville,'' and ''The Candidate (1972). He usually appeared as himself.<ref name=guardian/>
Smith was not the only journalist in the 1962–1963 season with his own prime-time series. [[NBC]] co-anchormen David Brinkley (1920–2003) and Chet Huntley (1911–1974) had separate half-hour programs on Monday and Tuesday evenings, respectively, entitled ''David Brinkley's Journal'' and ''Chet Huntley Reporting." Brinkley went on to host ABC's "This Week''
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard K. Smith: News And Comment}}
[[Category:1960s]]
[[Category:Television Shows
[[Category:Louisiana]]
In 1961, Smith left CBS News because of a dispute about a documentary that he produced on [[police]] violence against [[civil rights]] demonstrators in [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]], [[Alabama]]. He then joined ABC, where his contract stipulated that neither the network nor sponsors could interfere with the content of his program.<ref name=guardian>{{Cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2002/feb/20/guardianobituaries.haroldjackson|title=Harold Jackson, Obituaries, "Howard K Smith: Legendary US broadcaster famed for his independence|publisher=guardian.co.uk| location=London | date=February 20, 2002 | accessdate=May 4, 2010}}</ref>
While at CBS, Smith hosted the documentary program ''Behind the News with Howard K. Smith'' for twenty-one weeks from January 11 to September 20, 1959. Selected episodes focused on [[communism]] in [[Cuba]], the status of [[Berlin]], [[Germany, the [[Cold War]], [[Charles de Gaulle]], [[Nikita Khrushchev]] (two parts), [[unemployment]] in depressed areas, and the St. Lawrence Seaway.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052446/|title=''Behind the News with Howard K. Smith'' (1959)|publisher=Internet Movie Data Base|accessdate=October 30, 2020}}</ref>
Smith's ''News and Comment'' began early in 1962. On November 11, five days after mid-term elections were held on November 6, Smith broadcast a program entitled "The Political Obituary of [[Richard M. Nixon]]", which proved highly controversial as well as premature. He included an interview with Nixon nemesis [[Alger Hiss]], the Cold War convicted [[perjury|perjurer]] from [[Massachusetts]], as well as remarks from Nixon loyalist Murray Chotiner. Some said that Smith's program in the long-run benefited Nixon's six-year political comeback because there was a backlash of sympathy caused by Hiss's appearance.<ref name=mbc>{{cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/smithhoward/smithhoward.htm|title=Smith, Howard K.|publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications|location=[[Washington D.C.]], accessdate=December 29, 2008}}</ref>
While ABC stood behind Smith when the outcry erupted over the program, sponsors became increasingly difficult to find. ''Howard K. Smith: News and Comment'' was hence replaced in a revised format simply entitled ''ABC News Reports.<ref name=guardian/> After ''News and Comment'' Smith hosted ABC's Sunday afternoon half-hour interview program, then known as ''Issues and Answers'' (now the hour-long ''This Week''.<ref name=mbc/>
A native of Ferriday in Concordia Parish in eastern [[Louisiana]], Smith remained at ABC from 1962 to 1979, when he resigned because the network reduced the time allowed for his on-air commentaries. During the Nixon administration, Smith began to express more [[conservative]] views, particularly in regard to the [[Vietnam War]]. He hosted an hour-long interview with President Nixon in the [[White House]] in 1971. After he left ABC, Smith went on the lecture circuit, wrote his memoirs, and, befitting his patrician mannerisms, was cast in bit parts in such [[film]]s, as ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind,'' ''Nashville,'' and ''The Candidate (1972). He usually appeared as himself.<ref name=guardian/>
Smith was not the only journalist in the 1962–1963 season with his own prime-time series. [[NBC]] co-anchormen David Brinkley (1920–2003) and Chet Huntley (1911–1974) had separate half-hour programs on Monday and Tuesday evenings, respectively, entitled ''David Brinkley's Journal'' and ''Chet Huntley Reporting." Brinkley went on to host ABC's "This Week''
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard K. Smith: News And Comment}}
[[Category:1960s]]
[[Category:Television Shows
[[Category:Louisiana]]