Although Edward R. Murrow receives (and deserves) much of the credit for creating television news, it was Fred Friendly who did the work behind the camera.

He helped show us how great we can be, with "See It Now." He and Murrow also created the celebrity interview program that continues today with little or no news value. However, both would later say they detested their legacy of "Person to Person." Friendly resigned as CBS News president over an "entertainment versus news" programming dispute. After that, he became the founding father of public television.

I never met Fred Friendly. I wasn't one of his students. But I'll always admire his passion for and adherence to the ideals each of us as journalists should hold dear. The belief that we can always do better. That our goal should not be to "make money" by appealing to the lowest common denominator, but to search for the truth to make people think and help them better their lives. As we train students to enter the professional world, there is no better example than the work, the life and the dedication of Fred Friendly.

Joel Lundstad
University of Montana
School of Journalism
Missoula, MT
lundstad@selway.umt.edu