Good Night and Good Luck

“Good night and good luck”. That was Edward Murrow’s closer for every new segment that he did. This movie was a lot better than I thought at first. I’m not a big fan of black and white movies. As the movie began, I struggled to catch the story line because the blandness in the black and white failed to catch my short attention span. As the movie went on I finally started realizing what was going on and how powerful media can be. Man people can be put in on the jury of media without having a chance to defend themselves. Media can be very persuasive and very political. In this movie Edward Murrow pushed the limits of CBS news (Aucoin, 2005) He knew that he would get attacked yet still pushes the limits so that the truth would be told. The main controversy was behind Senator Joseph McCarthy’s prosecution of a man without evidence (Aucoin, 2005).

During the movie you could see that it was very easy to point someone out as a communist if they didn’t share the same ideas. It reminded me of the Salem Witch trials. Where if someone didn’t understand something someone else did, they would call them a witch and they would be stoned. There were points the movie where you can see a trial of someone being prosecuted as being a communist with no real evidence. It was only hearsay evidence which in today’s world would be outrageous. McCarthy interrogates a witness during a House Un-American Activities Committee session and his appearance on "See It Now" in which he responds to an earlier show in which Murrow challenges his tactics and motives (Lippe, 2006).

You can see clearly how media can be greatly influenced by political parties. One party might be able to be shown as the better one just by having affiliations with a news company. Many journalists may be scared to report certain things especially if it will upset the America people, or upset someone of great power. Journalist should not be objective. Philip M. Seib, a professor of journalism at Marquette University says, “Great journalism does not require objectivity” (Edward R. Murrow and the myth of objectivity.(interview)2006) . The world would be great if journalist could simply educate the people with just truth. I now see that the media can be full of politics and propaganda. This movie was made now so that people can see what media can do to a society. How it can affect so many people with just one broadcast. Cleary media is a very powerful tool that should be used cautiously.

References

Aucoin, D. (2005). Remembering one of journalism's finest moments: 'good night, and good luck' brings to life how and why Edward R. Murrow pushed CBS news to confront senator Joseph R. McCarthy's un-american tactics.(words & reflections)(movie review) Retrieved from http://0-find.galegroup.com.mill1.sjlibrary.org:80/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=IPS&docId=A141213680&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=sjpllib&version=1.0

Edward R. Murrow and the myth of objectivity.(interview)(2006). Retrieved from http://0-find.galegroup.com.mill1.sjlibrary.org:80/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=IPS&docId=A149203885&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=sjpllib&version=1.0

Lippe, R. (2006). Good night, and good luck: History replays itself.(critical essay) Retrieved from http://0-find.galegroup.com.mill1.sjlibrary.org:80/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=IPS&docId=A155477213&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=sjpllib&version=1.0