Good Night and Good Luck
By Kayla Branham
Since television became a big part of American family’s lives it has the ability to influence and direct how they think. “Good Night and Good Luck” shows that news programs may not be the most popular thing on television but it has the chance to make a big difference for the good of the common people rather than the profit of big business or to make the government look good. Television is an entity that makes the world much smaller than it really is. It has the possibility of showing people who their neighbors are in a world stuck in their own personal views. Television brought Americans the sights of the World Trade Center attacks; it transported us to Haiti after the devastating earthquakes and it uplifts our hearts with stories of triumph. It may sound cliché but with television the possibilities of journalism are endless.
Although they are both equally important print and television are completely different. Print allows the reader to think more critically about what happened during certain events because the picture they see is the one that they create. It works the same as novels and lets the reader learn new words and phrases. The difference in journalism is that it is bringing information from around the world; instead of being used for an entertainment and escape. Television journalism functions the same as print but it is more interactive with its audience. It holds interviews, reports crimes, disasters and even good deeds of common people, just like the newspaper. However, television captivates it audience using sights and sounds. Instead of reading quotes a person can see and hear the exact words and expressions someone has, such as a politician. It brings natural disasters and the devastating effects into homes of people whom may live half a world away by showing live footage of reactions, people rebuilding communities and even death. Television benefits advertising companies because it display products being used the way they were intended, giving people more on an inkling to buy the product. Over the past couple of decade’s television is winning the battle of reporting news to the public: yet it is much more limited to the kinds of news that it can offer. Edward Murrow puts it as, “this instrument [television] can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful.” If used correctly television can help the world solve its problems.
News is supposed to be about the people for the people but instead it has grown into a business meant to make a profit even if it means taking away from what the public deserves. Advertisers, such as ALCOA from the film, dictate what types of news will be broadcasted during the time. Murrow thinks that the sole purpose of news is to report exactly what is happening throughout the country and world. It does not matter whether corporations, politicians, or individuals are being tarnished by the news if what is being said is proven fact. The people deserve more than fluff given to them to be distracted by what is happening right under their noses. Edward R. Murrow believes, “And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or color, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live.” His words ring true still today that most programming on television, and the ones with the highest ratings are neither thought provoking nor give the same information that a low rating newscast gives. Sponsors and advertisers are going to spend the most money on what people are watching because it benefits the business, rather than the people. Murrow went against the majority of people around him to report the news in a way that he believed should always be reported because it is the responsible thing to do.
