Cecil Brown (journalist)

Cecil Brown

Cecil Brown (September 14, 1907 – October 25, 1987) was a war correspondent who worked closely with Edward R. Murrow during World War II. He was the author of the book Suez to Singapore, which describes the sinking of HMS Repulse in December 1941. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to radio.[1]

Background and early career

Brown was born September 14, 1907 in New Brighton, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Ohio State University in 1929, Brown left the United States for the Mediterranean and Black Seas where he worked as a seaman. He eventually returned to the United States where he worked as a journalist at several small newspapers. By 1937 he was back in Europe working as a freelancer.

Career at CBS

CBS hired Brown in 1940 as their correspondent in Rome, where he openly criticized the regime of Benito Mussolini. In 1941 the Italian government cited Brown's "continued hostile attitude" and expelled him from the country. After his expulsion from Italy, CBS sent Brown to Singapore. In December 1941, while Brown was in Singapore, he was invited to go out on a mission on the British cruiser HMS Repulse. The Repulse and the "Prince of Wales" were attacked by land based Japanese bomber aircraft and sunk. Brown narrowly escaped with his life. His experiences in his long journey and dealings with Italian, British, and other censorship authorities led him to write Suez to Singapore which was published in 1942. His criticism of the British in Singapore caused him to have his "war corresponent" credentials revoked and made him a persona non-grata. He narrowly escaped from Singapore before its fall to the Japanese. He was part of a larger group of reporters known as Murrow's Boys.

In September 1943, Brown resigned from CBS after being rebuked by CBS news director Paul White for expressing an editorial opinion during an August 25 news broadcast. Brown had stated that "a good deal of the enthusiasm for this war is evaporating into thin air." Announcing his resignation Brown said that he could not subscribe to what he characterized as CBS' policy of "non-opinionated" news.[2][3]:199–203

Career after CBS

After leaving CBS Brown covered the rest of the war at home, in the United States, for the Mutual Network. When WWII ended Brown continued to work in broadcast journalism as a correspondent for Mutual, NBC and ABC. He retired from broadcasting in 1967 and went to work as a professor of communication arts at Cal Poly Pomona where he worked until he died in 1987.

Honors

Further reading

Bernstein, Mark, World War II on the air: Edward R Murrow and the broadcasts that riveted a nation (Illinois: Sourcebooks, Inc, 2003)

References

  1. ↑ Hollywood Chamber of Commerce: Walk of Fame directory
  2. ↑ "Cecil Brown Quits CBS; Resigns After Rebuke on Remark in News Broadcast". The New York Times, September 22, 1943
  3. ↑ White, Paul W., News on the Air. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1947
  4. ↑ Peabody Award winners list
  5. ↑ All duPont–Columbia Award Winners, Columbia Journalism School. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, February 28, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.