“Good Night and Good Luck”

Prior to watching it in class, I had never seen the movie “Good Night and Good Luck”. The movie was about the conflict between radio and television journalist Edward R. Murrow and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. The conflict was related to the Senator's actions with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations during the Cold War. The main conflict in the movie is that Murrow and his colleagues defy corporate and sponsorship pressures, and discredit the tactics used by Joseph McCarthy to root out communist elements within the government, using Murrows CBS show ‘See It Now’.

The movie was shot in black and white, which made it very authentic. All the clothing and music and language seemed accurate to the time and really set the scene for the movie. The movie really showed the power that the media has. Murrow and his colleagues were able to go after tactics used by the President of the United States. Not only did they confront the President on his tactics, they proved him wrong. The movie really shows the power that the media had, and still has. The movie was set in the 1950s and it is clear that even back then media was an important power player in American life.