Hello Everyone. Good Day, and Good Luck...

Hello Everyone. Good Night, and Good Luck, or that’s how Edward R. Murrow would routinely close his broadcasts on CBS. Well After watching the movie “Good Night, and Good Luck”, a film created by George Clooney, one could only speculate why this film was made now? Why today?

Murrow, was a news broadcaster for CBS and is one of the most distinguished figures in the history of American broadcast journalism. The movie in which portrayed Murrow was set back in the 1950’s which was a different time for our country. This was at a time when there was fear amongst most American citizens. Communism was a big issue and many people worried that it would threaten western society and the democracy many people stood for. Because many American’s felt uneasy about communism, Senator Joseph McCarthy accused American’s of being communist’s (certain people in power, celebrities, “black listing”). Lucky for McCarthy, Murrow was one who opposed McCarthy and ridiculed him on the television news. So what does this have to do with the movie then?

For starters, I believe this movie was created today because we face something similar to what people had faced back in the 1950’s. Although it is not communism we fear, it is the idea of terrorism. Ever since the 9/11 attacks people run when they hear “terrorist” or “Hijack!” Common words like that scare people, especially on an airplane. It seems, whenever someone is accused of being a terrorist, we don’t think about it. We run and hide and we don’t ask questions. Think about it, do people know why we are at war with Iraq? A lot of American Citizen’s just gobble up what the government says or what the new says, but no one ever seems to question it. As for Edward R. Murrow, he questioned McCarthy and the choice he made, he found contradictions in his speeches, he found ways to get him. Murrow actually thought about the idea if people we really communist and he investigated.