It's the cry of the journalist who looks at the web and wonders what is happening to Journalism: "What would Murrow do?" The implication is that Edward R. Murrow would look at the state of journalism and weep. That he would see blogs and think "What has happened to my work?" That he would look down upon Journalism City, like the Native American in the pollution ad, with a tear in his eye.

May I suggest the following, thoughtful, consultant opinion?

Hooey.

Edward R. Murrow was a visionary. He was a showman. He was an advocate for the people. He railed against injustice. Edward R. Murrow is "Edward R. Murrow" because he was a great communicator who believed in the audience and its intelligence. What Would Murrow Do?

For starters, he would blog from London.

Mr. Murrow would be typing furiously on his laptop, noting everything he saw, minute by minute. He would be taking pictures and posting them as fast as he could upload them. He would shoot video on the cheapest damn camera he could find (German bombs can do quite a number on Sony HD Cams) and put the viewer right there with him.

Edward R. Murrow would empower every Londoner to contribute what they saw, heard and experienced. His site would have feeds being taken in from Kent, North London, South London, Stratford-on-Avon, Kensington and PubBlogger.

What Would Murrow Do?

He would send out Twitter alerts. "V BOMBS INCOMING. FOR LIST OF TUBE STATIONS STILL TAKING IN REFUGEES, VISIT MURROW.CO.UK."

Then he would make sure that Facebook Londoners would share shelter information with each other - and with the American audience.

We wouldn't have to wait until the newsreels made it to America months later to see what was happening. We wouldn't have to wait until the Nuremberg Trials in 1946 to see the horrors of the (then rumored, and not really believed) Holocaust.

Edward R. Murrow would point his webcam from his rooftop, as the sirens sounded, show the world the Blitz, and say "This... is London."

That's what Murrow would do.

What will you do? 

- Steve Safran, Sr. VP, Media 2.0, AR&D. From the April 17, 2008 edition of Media 2.0 Intel