The Lady of the Late Night News | Linda Ellerbee

 Who is Linda Ellerbee?

Linda was born on August 15th 1944 in Bryan, Texas. She got her start in print journalism. She was hired by the Dallas bureau of the Associated Press in 1972. Later she was hired by the News Director of the Houston CBS television affiliate KHOU, who said she "wrote funny". Despite that she would go on to become New York’s WCBS-TV "hard news" reporter with her segment airing at 11:00 PM.

Here is a clip of Linda in action

NBC News Digest with Linda Ellerbee 1983

By 1991 Linda would transition from traditional adult news to a brand new news program aimed at children. Lucky Duck Productions began producing the series Nick News with Linda being the face of the program. Nick News would go on to win awards typically reserved for adult programing. Not only did it set a new standard when it came to explaining serious topics to children. The show would win three Peabody Awards (which is the highest honor a broadcaster and its related programing can earn). It would be the first children's program to do so. Linda would even win her own personal Peabody award for her coverage of President Bill Clinton’s impeachment.

Linda Ellerbee, IMDB

Peabody awards are not the only awards Linda is decorated with as she has won multiple Emmys. Her first Emmy was in 1986 for her writing on Our World which won her a News & Documentary Emmy. Her next personal Emmy would come in 2004 for her series When I Was a Girl, which aired on WE: the women's entertainment network. Nick News won ten Emmys over the years.

Linda was known for more than just her television appearances. She would publish two books. The first And so it Goes published in 1986 was a humorous look at what it took to be on air. Providing a special behind the scenes look at her work at the time. Her second book was titled Move On, published in 1991 would go on to be a best seller. This novel was a collection of short stories that followed a working single mother set in the 60's. Her third book Take Big Bites: Adventures Around the World and Across the Table was also a best seller. This was a more light hearted book that featured her love for travel.

"And So It Goes" book cover

Before retiring from television in 2015, she was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Children's Television at the annual Banff International Media Festival. Also in 2011, at the annual Gracie Awards, she received the Tribute Award, the highest honor given by the Alliance for Women in Media. 

Ellerbee did not retire completely, as today she is part of espeakers. Where she now travels the world giving talks to colleges, and other programs that will have her. Some of her talks include "Change Is a Form Of Hope" where she uses her personal experiences to inspire others and remind them that they should not live in fear. Another talk she does is "Surviving Breast Cancer to Laugh Another Day" she details her own journey of surviving breast cancer and how it feels to be on the other side of things 20+ years later.

Linda Ellerbee was a trailblazer for women in journalism and proved that you can still be successful and true to yourself in the process. 

Shock & Awe Reflection

 "There is no more important struggle for American democracy than insuring a diverse, independent, and free media" - Bill Myers

Massive bombardment: fires rage in Baghdad after the city was hit by a series of coalition airstrikes in March 2003. Image: Trinity Mirror / Alamy

The conflict begins with the September 11th 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers. What starts as basic coverage of a world event, turns into undercovering government secrets, and risking everything to get to the truth.

The Knight Ridder news room operated like any other news room at the time until the attacks. They then made a shift. Where other major news outlets continued to spread misinformation, and propaganda spread by President Bush. Knight Ridder went above and beyond to get the truth even if they had to risk the jobs and sometimes even the lives of their sources. They made sure everyone remained anonymous and had their identity protected. Like when they made sure that their source was just named as a U.S Official. This made it so they were able to go above and beyond to get to the truth.

Once that comfort was established, people knew that Knight Ridder was someone to be trusted. And their source did not hold back as she goes onto explain what the war agency was planning to do. Even letting it slip that she works in the building with 'the five sides'. 

All of this to say Knight Ridder put themselves on the map with their information gathering, causing them to be in conflict with other journalists.

"Shock & Awe" - 2017

Including them butting heads with someone as big as the New York Times.

The New York Times releases a public statement which spreads the misinformation that Iraq is gathering the materials to make a nuclear weapon. Specifically aluminum tubes that would be used to enrich uranium. That enriched uranium would be used to create the "Weapons Of Mass Destruction" the world has been so afraid of.

But Knight Ridder knew there was something fishy about that claim. So Jonathan Landay picked up the phone and called that special source that was mentioned earlier. But he was unsuccessful. They begin to doubt themselves, as they are the small fish in the big pond of reporters. But after a pep talk from Walcott, 

“We don’t write for people who send other people’s kids off to war. We write for people whose kids are sent to war!”

He reminds his staff that when the government says something, they only have one question to ask. "Is it true?"

This is the fire they needed to get back on track.  

They get to work calling out the New York times for using unreliable sources, while making sure theirs are direct, and most importantly, correct. Including a source that confirms those aluminum tubes are useless in creating WMD. This montage lasting only a minute, has too many examples of misinformation from the Bush administration to list. Proving just how catastrophized the situation with Iraq had become.

And after all that hard work, Landay gets his smoking gun. 

"The Vice President is lying."

All of their hard work pays off and the truth was revealed. The film ends with numerous truth bombs being dropped.

"Shock &Awe" - 2017

Unfortunately, the events in this film still ring true today. As the conflict with Iran is osculating and the United States is preparing to go to war; it has seemingly become a game of who can spread misinformation faster. Including AI generated war videos, as the BBC reports. Most AI generated videos depict Israel as the victims of mass casualty explosions, when that is simply not the case.