December 25, 2006

Former CBS Exec Frank Stanton Dies

Pivotal Free Speech Rights Advocate, Broadcast Pioneer was 98

New York, NY - Broadcast pioneer Dr. Frank Stanton, the longtime president of CBS credited with building the “Tiffany Network” out of a once-fledging radio operation, died Sunday at his home in Boston.  He was 98.

Like the CBS Eye logo Dr. Stanton unveiled in 1951, said Leslie Moonves, current president and chief executive officer of CBS, Stanton was recognized American icon.

Appointed president of CBS in 1946 by founder William S. Paley, Stanton came to be known as the "conscience of broadcasting" for his legendary fights for the First Amendment rights of CBS journalists.

One of Stanton’s most notable battles occurred in 1971, when he refused to honor a subpoena from the U.S. House of Representatives which demanded outtakes of the 1971 documentary "CBS Reports: The Selling of the Pentagon," a segment criticizing the defense department.   

During this landmark case, which confirmed broadcast journalism's equal protection with print under the First Amendment, Stanton spoke before the U.S. House in a televised session.  Risking a jail sentence, he maintained that the CBS News team’s outtakes warranted the same status as print reporters’ notebooks and, therefore, would not submit the material.

The House ultimately voted 226-181 not to hold CBS and its president in contempt, following two days of testimony.

"The spirit and the purpose of the first amendment,” Stanton reportedly said, “is to protect not the government, not the press but the people."

Stanton received five Peabody awards for his ongoing, vital defense of the right of broadcast journalists.

Former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite called Stanton—who kept CBS News on the air for four days straight sans commericial breaks in 1963 covering the assassination of President Kennedy—“one of the great leaders in the development of radio and television.”

"His principles became the ethics of broadcast journalism," Cronkite said.

Born March 20, 1908, in Muskegon, Michigan, Stanton was raised in Dayton, Ohio.  He worked his way through Ohio Wesleyan University with a job in the advertising division of a local retail store.

The pre-med major completed his bachelor’s degree in 1930 and went on to teach psychology at Ohio State University, where he earned both a masters and doctorate in the discipline.

In 1931, Stanton married his late wife, Ruth Stephenson, who died in 1992. Four years later, he accepted an offer to join CBS.

Dr. Frank Stanton Grants Rare Interviews to Archive of American Television

In May 2000 and 2001, Dr. Frank Stanton granted rare, in-depth interviews to the Archive of American Television.

The complete Stanton interviews are available for viewing at the AAT office, located on the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences plaza in North Hollywood. Contact the Television Archive at (818) 754-2800 for more information.


To learn more about the life and works of Dr. Frank Stanton and the history of the Archive of American Television online, please visit the Archive of American Television Update blog.

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