Quote

“On March 9, 1954, McCarthy’s reputaion was dealt a serious blow when a revealing report aired on See It Now, a popular TV series. The show’s host was Edward R.  Murrow, the most respected newscaster on televison. The half-hour program showed footage of McCarthy at his worst-yelling at a witness and making claims that Murrow showed to be false.”

…

“In the 24 hours following the airing of the program, the CBS televison network received more than 12,000 phone calls. For every one caller who disagreed with the report 15 were in favor of it.”

Paraphrase

• McCarthy was called out by a famous reporter
• The reporter was Edward R. Murrow 
• His reputaion was seriously damaged 
• He was lieing according to Murrow
• CBS was bombarded with callers to talk about the program
• The majority of the people were in favor of it

My ideas

I am surprised that McCarthy never accused the reporter of being a communist in order to defend whatever honor he had left. Murrow had power over the people because whatever he said they thought it was true. In this instance McCarthy is Abigail and the reporter is Rebecca Nurse. Rebbeca was a well respected woman because she showed the true Puritan way. Rebecca told everyone that Abigail was making the accusations up and some belived her. Then Ms. Putnum blamed Rebbeca for killing her children. The superstious town started to doubt Rebbeca after Ms. Putnum blackened her name.

“I think she’ll wake in time. pray clam yourselves. I have eleven children, and I am twenty-six times a grandma and I have seen them all thoughtthier silly seasons ans when it come on them theu will run the devil bowlegged kepping up with thier mischeif. I think she’ll wake when she tiers of it. a child’s spirit is like a child you can neven catch it by running after it; you must stand still, and, for love, it will soon itself come back.” 

Rebbeca is sitting next to Bety who is inert on the bed. She is saying that children will be children, they will have “thier silly seasons.” She is also not accusing the girls but actually defending them. Rebbeca can be compared to the reporter in that both endorce logic and reconise sillyness when they see it.