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McMullen was the writer/producer of hard-hitting television documentaries of
the 1960s, several of which were distributed to school film libraries. Former
president of CBS News (and EP of CBS Reports) Fred W. Friendly once
called McMullen "broadcast journalism's first and only investigative
reporter... a painfully slow worker who sometimes takes a year to pick his next
story. He was a tremendous asset to CBS Reports, but we could only afford one of
him. Stubborn and intractable, he could not be rushed and I learned early that I
could give him no deadline, not even a year in which a broadcast could be
scheduled."
Born in Minneapolis, MN on 8 April, 1921, McMullen honed his investigative
properties as an army correspondent in WWII, wining a Bronze Star for his Sunday
Night "Army Hour" broadcasts. His award stated "McMullen's recordings
are the most vivid and the best received interviews from any theater of war."
Later, he was part of Irv Gitlin's radio team at CBS, producing award-winning reports
such as:
 | Babies COD (1954) |
| Chronicle of Terror: the Galindez - Murphy Case (1957, a Columbia University
Spanish teacher was kidnapped and killed by agents of Trujillo. Also
narrated by Murrow). |
| Who Killed Michael Farmer? (1958, narrated by Edward R. Murrow, about New York street
gangs) |
McMullen later moved to CBS News, where he producing documentaries in the 'CBS
Reports' series such as:
| Hoffa & The Teamsters (1959, writer and associate producer) |
| Real Case of Murder (1961, trial of a 15 year old defendant by the press) |
| Biography of a Bookie Joint (1961, investigating Boston police corruption) |
| Silent Spring of Rachel Carson (1963) |
| The Verdict of the Silent Spring of Rachel Carson (1963) |
| The Business of Heroin (1967, Middle East to Harlem) |
| The Tenement (1967, on the subject of substandard housing in Chicago) |
| Campaign American Style (1968, profile of Republican candidate Sol Wachtler) |
| Portrait in Black and White (1968, part of CBS News' Of Black America
series) |
| The Mexican Connection (1972, where he spend eight months in Mexico
investigating underground activities) |
| The Corporation (1973, big business, featuring Phillips Petroleum) |
| District Attorney - 1974 |
| The Selling of the F-14 (1976, investigation of controversial selling of
F-14 fighter planes to Iran for $2 billion) |
| Anatomy of a Scandal (Korea Gate) - 1978 |
| The Baby Makers (1979, focuses on sperm-egg-embryo trade in humans and
animals) |
| The Toyota Invasion - 1981 - the invasion of Japanese auto industry into
the United States |
| Parole Game - 1982 (nominated for "Writer's Guild Award" for Outstanding
Achievement). This was a close look at the revolving door of the parole
system |
| After All Those Years - 1983 - this was an examination of trauma of
senior white collar employees fired after spending most of their years with
one corporation |
Jay's daughter Anne notes: "From 1964 to 1966 dad headed the CBS News Fact
Finding Unit. Some of the unit's exposes focused on mail order clinical
laboratories and illegal traffic in pep pills and were credited with sparking
new federal legislation. When President Lyndon B Johnson signed the Drug
Control Act of 1965, he invited dad to attend the ceremonies."
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