A Comparison Between Good Night And Good Luck

In George Clooney’s movie Good Night and Good Luck, Edward R. Murrow was shown defying his boss Sig Michelson by discrediting Joe McCarthy on his show. Murrow’s actions saved the career of an air force pilot but almost lost him his job and career as a journalist. Edward Murrow almost got fired because Michelson did not want to lose sponsorships or advertisements for CBS due to Murrow’s anti-McCarthy story. During the early fifties and present day twenty first century, reporters and journalists have been censored or limited in their reports due to what their sponsors want them to say, what the government feels necessary to air, or what the people want to hear or see. Journalism today is influenced by the government and sponsors who want news …show more content…
The United States government does not want any news or reports that will either put national security at risk or make the government look bad. An example of the latter is when the Pentagon Papers were published which contained U.S. Department of Defense information on the Vietnam War. The papers showed that U.S. presidents and top government officials have deceived the public on U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. “The administration of President Richard Nixon (R, 1969–74) attempted to block the publication of the papers, telling the Times that it would cause "irreparable injury to the defense interests of the United States." Historians later noted that the information contained in the papers posed more of an embarrassment to the U.S. government than a danger to national security” (Censorship and Freedom of Information). Years later, President Obama has promised to make the government more transparent and open towards the public. “On his first day in office, in 2009, President Obama issued a series of executive orders designed to make "transparency and rule of law the touchstones of this presidency."” (Censorship and Freedom of Information). He later goes back against his promise by not allowing the release of suspected terrorists photos to the public claiming that though "our democracy depends upon transparency… some information must be protected from public disclosure for the sake of our …show more content…
Ratings and views are done by the people watching the television or buying the newspaper. What some news broadcasters and newspapers will do is put what the audience likes to hear or see in the news in order to boost ratings and views. Examples include “CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel, in their struggle to fill airtime and grab ratings, will often spend hours—or even days—covering stories that many would consider trivial but which they think viewers care about, from the home life of "octomom" Nadya Suleman and her 14 children to the death of pop singer Michael Jackson” (Infotainment). Opponents of these tactics argue that while the station is reporting the popular news, actual news such as wars and political acts are being ignored. “Defenders, however, insist that journalism is a business like any other, and to succeed in their business, news outlets must earn high ratings. If a cable channel focused exclusively on "hard" news stories, easily bored viewers would simply migrate to its competitors, defenders say” (Infotainment). Stephen Colbert, host of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, argued how news stations are ignoring important stories and news. “In June 2009, when Colbert hosted his show from Iraq, he lambasted the mainstream media's lack of coverage of the war there. Indeed, critics note, when the U.S. invaded the country in 2003, the war was a top news story; by 2008, however, it was barely