Series: The Ten O'Clock News
Date: 1987-02-09
Duration: 00:04:09

Subject: Urban poverty; Infant mortality
People: Edelman, Marian Wright; Flynn, Raymond; Kelly, Hope; Walker, Bailus;

Clip Description
Hope Kelly reports on an alarming increase in the infant mortality rate in Boston. Kelly reviews the statistics. She notes that the infant mortality rate among African Americans is 2.5 times the infant mortality rate among whites. Kelly adds that the increase in the infant mortality rate was most pronounced in the Roxbury neighborhood. Kelly interviews Dr. Bailus Walker (Commissioner of Public Health). Walker says that the increase in the infant mortality rate is the result of a cutback in social programs from 1982 to 1984. Kelly's report includes footage of Ray Flynn (Mayor of Boston) talking about the effects of cutbacks in social programs. Kelly notes that the state has put $15 million toward reducing the infant mortality rate. Kelly's report includes footage of Marian Wright Edelman (Director, Children's Defense Fund) at a press conference. Edelman says that the US has one of the highest infant mortality rates of any industrialized nation. Kelly notes that Boston is the home to many of the nation's top hospitals. She adds that the infant mortality rate in the city is as high as in many third world nations. Kelly's report is accompanied by footage of women, children, and health care workers at a health clinic and by footage of residents of a public housing project. The video cuts to black for 45 seconds during this story, from 00:01:34 to 00:02:15.This tape includes additional footage of health care workers, women and children at the Codman Square Health Center.

Series Description
A local program aimed at the Boston audience, The Ten O'Clock News debuted on January 15, 1976. Its two immediate predecessors were The Reporters and Evening Compass. A news and public affairs show focusing on neighborhood, local and state issues, The Reporters was produced and broadcast on WGBH from 1970 to 1973. The Reporters was then replaced by Evening Compass, which expanded into a twice-nightly news broadcast during the tense moments of Boston's busing crisis. On the air from 1973 to 1975, Evening Compass found an audience through its in-depth coverage of school desegregation in Boston, which began in 1974. The Ten O'Clock News stood out as an in-depth news program. It strove for a balance between local and national stories, between politics and the Arts. The last The Ten O'Clock News program was broadcast on May 30, 1991.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/ton/programs/4870_02