Good Night and Good Luck

Last night my husband and I watched a movie, which is actually rather rare in our household. We rented Good Night and Good Luck, a movie about Edward R. Murrow's stand against Joseph McCarthy's communist witch hunt. I found the movie particularly interesting in today's context of the war on terrorism, as many conservative pundits cry "treason" or "terrorist sympothizer" to anyone who dares to exercise his or her constitutional right to free speech. I must say, however, that we are still far from McCarthyism at this point, but a little reminder of where we have been in the past is probably good at this point.

The movie also gives an interesting look into world of mass media and the affects that profit motive and advertising have on what we see on the news.

The movie begins and ends with Murrow addressing a crowd at the 1958 convention of the Radio-Television News Directors Association. In his address, he warns against television becoming simply entertainment and not being used to educate and inform, a good message even today.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in politics or American history.

Crossposted at Troy PoliSci