“…that coverage…kept the legislation on the public’s mind. It undermined any notion that this was an exercise in futility.””
Charles Ferris describes the importance of the daily media coverage during the 1964 civil rights filibuster.
RITCHIE: CBS put Roger Mudd out on the steps during the filibuster.
FERRIS: Roger Mudd was out on the steps every day. I think then all on-air personnel were paid by the amount of time on the air. I think Roger was with WTOP here, the CBS affiliate, but they carried him on the network. A running count was displayed on the screen with the cumulative number of hours and days of debate. Roger was a good friend and still is to this day. Roger lived in a great old house in McLean. I kidded him, “This is the house the Civil Rights bill built.” He became a national celebrity because of his coverage of the bill. But that coverage was essential because it kept the issue before the country and provided context to the general public. It kept the legislation on the public’s mind. It undermined any notion that this was an exercise in futility. This was just something that would remain on course, this was something that would take time, but it was going to conclude, and not collapse. These were serious issues that would to be confronted and resolved. There was never a sense that it wasn’t going to happen. There were thoughts early on that some Titles would be watered down or eliminated to get sufficient cloture votes, but the bill was definitely going to pass in some form. But everything aligned itself perfectly to assure that dilution did not happen.
