Journalism as Portrayed in Good Night and Good Luck

Good Night and Good Luck is a film about Edward Murrow, who was a radio/ television journalist for CBS throughout the 30's, 40's, and 50's. He is most well known for his investigation and criticism of senator Joseph McCarthy, who at the time was involved in the identification of members of the communist party on American soil.

McCarthy was using interrogation techniques that a lot of people considered to be outrageous.

No one would call McCarthy out for fear of being accused of being a communist, that was until Murrow

and his team sought out to investigate McCarthy. They aired a series of shows that used McCarthy's

own words against him, and revealed his style of interrogation. Their shows eventually lead to the

censorship of McCarthy by the U.S. Senate.

Murrow was an outstanding journalist, who valued practicing good journalism just as much as getting the story. His fearless investigation of McCarthy has gone down in journalism history. He advocated the use of television to inspire, educate, and perhaps introduce important issues to the general public. He believed that to impose censorship on the news would contribute the the deterioration of the country, and he did all he could to prevent that from occurring.