The movie “Good Night and Good Luck” takes place during the communist scare of the early 1950’s It details the repercussions of McCarthyism on the CBS News team of this time. Edward R. Murrow was a respected news anchorman for CBS. Friend Friendly was a CBS News producer and Murrow’s close friend. William Paley was a broadcasting pioneer and an executive for CBS Broadcasting. Joe McCarthy was a powerful senator who held hearings accusing many in the United States of ties to communism.
Murrow came under fire for exposing the Milo Radulovich case on his CBS News show “See it Now”. Radulovich was being forcibly discharged from the US Air Force due to his refusal to denounce his family members who were involved with communism. This pressured the Air Force to reinstate Radulovich but put Murrow and his news stream in McCarthy’s sites. McCarthy outright accused Morrow of being a member of the Communist party. Murrow, however stood up to not only his bosses at CBS, including Paley who warned Murrow and Friendly about how continuing to purse news stories with Communist connections could have consequences for them and their news team as well as losing advertisers for the network, but also to McCarthy and his tactics. Murrow next exposed the story of Annie Lee Moss, a Pentagon worker who was convicted of being an American Communist Party member on speculation by an FBI infiltrator who believed he saw her name on a list. McCarthy then investigated Murrow in his famous Senate hearings on Communism and which led to Paley cutting the Murrow/Friendly news shows down to five one-hour episodes per week due to a lack of advertisers.
This movie showed how the McCarthy hearings and the communism scare of the 1950’s had consequences for everyone involved, regardless of which side they fell on. Murrow and Friendly handled the situation by standing firm in their belief that the news should report the facts on events the public needed to know about and not back away from controversy. They tried to protect those that relied on them for their living but felt that the news should always come first. Paley had to look at the bigger picture and do what he felt was in the best interest of the network overall. He was forced to cut time for Murrow and Friendly’s show “See It Now” when their attacks on McCarthyism lost advertisers. Paley’s main goal was the continued success of CBS Broadcasting and its numerous workers, over Murrow’s crusade for justice. This meant Paley was unwilling to risk the reputation of the network or his own reputation, to back Murrow and Friendly in their exposure of McCarthy and his tactics. Paley helped build CBS and felt responsibility to keep the entire network, news as well as entertainment, going so he was not able to stand up for any personal beliefs he may have held or stood up for others like Murrow and Paley, who did not consider financial implications for CBS of their broadcast. Murrow was able to risk himself and his reputation because he had people like his friend Friendly backing him up. He also had gained the respect of the public by not bowing to pressure and putting McCarthy on blast for what he believed to be illegal and un-American investigations and hearings. Murrow and Friendly felt the truth were more important than protecting themselves or their news team. They felt exposing, these stories publicly were for the greater good.
Joe McCarthy was a powerful US Senator. In the 1950’s he led a crusade against Communism during which he held senate hearings to investigate many United States public figures and their possible ties to the Communist party. He believed he was untouchable as a leader and what he was doing was for the greater good of the nation. His hearings, however revolved into personal attacks on anyone who dared to speak out against him Murrow led the charge to expose McCarthy and his unlawful tactics which led to an investigation into the McCarthy hearings and McCarthy’s departure from political life.
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