The Huntley-Brinkley Report's final show...

...and how the 60's infantilized American culture.

A casual conversation had me searching for Huntley-Brinkley to satisfy an idle curiousity, and I found this clip of the final sign off from the last episode of the Huntley-Brinkley Report from 1970.  A few observations.

First, notice the language used by the reporters.  The language is formal and complex and strangely beautiful. These were people who expected that their readers expected them to set a standard of professionalism.

Second, notice how both Huntley and Brinkley are frequently looking down.  They are not reading from a teleprompter; they are reading from the papers on their desk.  I suspect that we would find that behavior today to be completely unprofessional.  In other words, we've shifted our standard of professionalism from the content of reporting to the way in which it is presented.  

Third, I remember the sign-off music at the closing credits, which Wiki advises was "the second movement (scherzo) of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, from the 1952 studio recording with Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra." It was heavy, ponderous, serious, classical music. It communicated the sense that reporting the news was serious because news was a serious business.

Could you imagine any news show - any show - using such music today?  Seriousness is passe in this day and age.

Fourth, the final broadcast was in 1970, when I was ten.  I would have sworn that it was on well into my teen years, because I remember Huntley-Brinkley and the final music.

Check out the final sign off: