WITH HEROIC TRUTH

An adulation of Murrow, ``the founding saint of broadcast news and the best-ever practitioner of it, [who] also set standards for excellence and courage that remain the standards the world over.'' Born into a hardworking family, Murrow took a speech course from Ida Lou Anderson that changed his life, drilling into him all the ``skills he would need to become a confident and effective speaker.'' Murrow found his way to CBS after college and for seven years, via his London-based radio show, broadcast to the US ``what it was like to live in a country at war,'' emphasizing British resolve and resilience. Finkelstein (Thirteen Days, Ninety Miles, 1994, etc.) is unmistakable in his own conviction: ``Day after day, Murrow's broadcasts did more to turn American public opinion in favor of Britain and American involvement in the fight for freedom than all the formal diplomacy.'' It's also clear from this account that Murrow helped bring McCarthyism down: ``We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law.'' Finkelstein is one-sided and laudatory, omitting any mention of Murrow's human frailties (e.g., his alleged affair with Pamela Harriman in London), but sincere in his belief that this broadcast visionary is a hero; readers will be convinced. (b&w photos, bibliography, notes, index) (Biography. 10-13)