JFK Assassination

Anyone who was alive on November 11, 1963 can remember where they were when they heard that President Kennedy had been shot. It was a tragedy that altered the nation in many ways. Some of the most important of these changes occurred in the field of broadcast journalism.

The JFK assassination raised concerns, for the first time, about what is appropriate content for TV news. The most complete recording of the incident was filmed by Abraham Zapruder with a home-movie camera. And it is not for the squeamish. The video clearly shows President Kennedy being shot in the head. The big question every news station had to ask was: How much do we show to the public?  The issue still continues today with crises like 9/11 and the Boston Marathon bombings.

Another big change in the wake of the assassination was that the news became more humanized. The event shook the entire country, including reporters.  And for the first time, the public saw that. An example of this is CBS's Walter Cronkite, who fought back tears as he announced the confirmation of the president's death.

Above all, the JFK assassination caused Americans to truly consider that news seen on television has the same credibility and importance as news found on print. People realized, while watching the details of the story unfold for the next four days, that live television gave them updated information faster than ever in the past. As late as 1950, only 10% of households in America had TV sets.  By 1965, just two years after the assassination of the president, that number had risen to 94%.

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November 11, 1963 has been called "the day that changed America." I don't necessarily agree with that; however, I would call it "the day that changed television."