Good Night, and Good Luck

In 1935, there was a rather unafraid journalist under CBS called Edward "Ed" Murrow. Soon after, in the 1940s and 50s, there was a wave of fear and persecution called "McCarthyism."

The movie Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) gained its title from Ed Murrow's broadcast segment's closing phrase. Murrow would show his news and allowed for extended conversation. Almost always, Murrow closed his segment with "Good night, and good luck."

Early on in the movie, it's obvious that there's a conflict between the press and the McCarthy-era government. Murrow, as a member of the press, constantly challenges the government while the government constantly tries to silence him.

Funny enough, in one of the segments where Murrow was speaking at an event, he said, "Our history will be what we make of it."

At the time, Joseph McCarthy and his council had over 200 people accused of being Communists or Communist sympathizers. This wave of panic, or McCarthyism, is also known as one of the major Red Scares. 

One of the people accused of Communism was from a Michigan Air Base. Air Force Lieutenant Milo Radulovich was accused and indicted as a Communist without a hearing or trial. His biggest crime, as Murrow soon reported, was that he was of Serbian descent through his father.

No one knew his actual crimes. His charges were in a missing confidential folder that was who-knew-where. Even the military were trying to cover up the story.

Regardless of military intimidation or claims of "security risk," Murrow consistently reported on the Radulovich story. Other members of the press avoided the story of the lieutenant or McCarthyism to avoid being accused themselves or visited by military men.

The government was in almost complete control of the media.

It's not that different today, just in a new form of persecution and prosecution. 

Murrow's own boss at CBS warned Murrow to back off the McCarthy stories. He believed that Joseph McCarthy's witch hunt of alleged communists would implode on himself. McCarthy stories were chaos and risky to broadcast but Murrow insisted. 

Edward R. Murrow. Image from Britannica. 

Murrow still reported.

After early reports, the reportage on McCarthyism and the trials conducted became a matter of ethics and legality. Ethically, the story was well-done. Legally, lawyers warned and suggested killing the stories.

One of the Murrow broadcasts CBS and their lawyers caught and tried to kill was when Murrow began to challenge McCarthy directly... by using his own words against him. It evolved into an accusatory game of I-beat-you-to-it.

McCarthy soon started attacking Murrow. He claimed that Murrow was connected to the communist party.

A quote that stuck out to me from Murrow regarding McCarthy's accusations was "An accusation is not proof."

Both men were under a constant barrage of accusations and opinions. Approvals from other media outlets changed the mood of a whole room. Bad news for one party elated the other, as displayed as when Lt. Radulovich was reinstated to his position in the Air Force.

Life went on for most of those depicted. 

Journalists in the film were stunned for a moment between Murrow's reenacted broadcasts. Notable journalist Don Hollanback's death was announced shortly after the lieutenant's reinstatement. He'd passed from suicide by gas released from his stove. 

Almost as if to match that loss, the U.S Senate grew tired of McCarthy almost as much as Murrow "enjoyed" broadcasting his interactions against the junior senator. The Senate moved to investigate McCarthy (which didn't do much as McCarthy was forced to quiet himself, almost vanishing for the remainder of his time as senator). 

In a twisted way, the recreation of the Murrow-McCarthy feud and McCarthy's incitement of a Red Scare was a haunting reflection of today's journalist-politician interaction and politician's exaggerations of current issues.

Everyone half-wins. 

Then, McCarthy lost his significant position as bold anti-communist senator (but still held some form of power by giving paranoia to the American people), major figures in the United States at the time were confronted, and Murrow got the last word at an awards ceremony.

Today, a man which holds no political power still has a massive following with xenophobic or extreme views), major figures in both politics and journalism are constantly under the careful eye of the public (many being new young voters) or in conflict, and journalists still receive recognition, positive or not.

Much like Murrow was describing, it's a tricky world to navigate. It's up to the people to keep figures, like those in the government, in check. 

So, as Murrow says,

"Good night... and good luck."

EOTO: Propaganda and War, Role of the press

The use of propaganda in modern societies is no new strategy. 

In 1622, the Catholic Church started propagating foreign missions for the spreading of the Bible's teachings as interpreted by men of the clergy at that point. Since then, the world has taken the methods and developed them for non-religious purposes.

20th Century Propaganda

While at the time of the birth of propaganda, the information being spread was perceived as truth, the modern meaning has evolved to mean "the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor, often biased or misleading, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause, institution or point of view." 

Modern journalism is just one vessel of spreading propaganda. 

The Catholic Church's global position of importance of general life has decreased significantly overall. Meanwhile, the daily use and importance of journalism has risen. 

During the 20th Century, multiple wars meant multiple propaganda waves. The United States of America, once renowned as the world's peacekeepers, was involved with the most wars.

Propaganda posters, like the one depicted on the left, is a lighter example. "Rosie the Riveter," also considered a cultural icon, united those on the battlefield and women in munition factories. 

The 21st Century and War

Much of who are called Generation Z grew up in times of war or otherwise overseas conflict. A notable many were born during the wars in the Middle East, in which the U.S had military forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria.

"Gen Z" has also witnessed conflicts evolve into new wars. 

The two more-reported wars and conflicts were the 2021 Israel-Palestine crisis and the Ukrainian Crisis. The latter, also the more reported war, has been called the Russian Invasion of Ukraine or the Ukraine-Russia Conflict/War.

Most of the young world communicated through social media, primarily TikTok, to witness the Ukraine-Russia conflict evolve in both political accounts and personal accounts from both soldiers and victims of the war. You can view dated updates of the Ukraine-Russia War on CNN's Live Updates. 

Modern forms of propaganda coming from active conflict or active war zones have evolved from posters like "Rosie the Riveter" to propagating written information and videos from both sides of the conflict, occasionally even drawing a third party to release a form of propaganda.

Many current non-white or non-European conflicts' propaganda are often left in their native language if visual art forms are released. For instance, the Israel-Palestine poster (right) was left in Arabic script.

Other conflicts in white or European regions are often translated and generally more publicized, both in media coverage and available translations (ie social media, subtitles, etc).

The Role of the Press

The press has a fundamental role in publishing accurate information as truthfully as possible. 

Workers of the press, often professional journalists and correspondents, have an ethical obligation to uphold their role. However, due to division in national and international media, the various forms of publication have evolved to "accuracy" according to particular outlets' political favor.

The current reliability of the press is up to the individual person as they read. The role of the press is simply to ethically (and morally) report on the beat they were assigned, like war correspondence, or the story they took up. This should mean all sides are given a chance to comment or speak.

The role of the press is to inform with accurate information.

The role of the reader is to consume and make their own conclusions

React: Girl Reporter

In the 1880s through the 1890s, there was a group of female reporters called "Girl Reporters." They were known for undercover work in seedy areas and otherwise dangerous situations, even more dangerous as these women went into situations unaccompanied as women.

"Girl Reporters" was a term that originated in an article titled "Infanticide." The article's author remains unknown spare for their sentiment regarding a still-real battle over abortion. It was an abortion piece published in 1888 in The Chicago Times.

Girl Reporters were able to prove men wrong by bringing a more objective form of journalism to the table. These women were also able to use their sympathy, which men deemed their flaw, as a tactic rhetoric. They were able to delve deeper into stories, sometimes making them seem more fictional than reality.

New Yorker: image of Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly, born as Elizabeth Jane Cochran, was among the earliest of Girl Reporters. She began her journalism career at age 16 in 1885. Her pen name, Nellie Bly, was given to her in her short time at the Pittsburgh Gazette, but she carried it through her time at The New York World and later, The New York Journal until her death.

Eva McDonald also started her journalism career young. She began at the St Paul Daily Globe at only 12 years old. She took up the moniker Eva Gay, specializing in reporting women’s labor conditions

Victoria Earle Matthews, a Georgia native, worked to uncover and expose abuse of young Black women. She too had experienced abuses due to being born into slavery. After emancipation, she and her family moved to New York, where Matthews later became a journalist. In her career, she worked at three New York papers and eventually opened settlement home for women.

Gertrude Gordon was among the first women to have a byline in Pittsburgh. She used her byline in the Pittsburgh Press to highlight women’s movements. One of her earliest reports was on the Marianna Mine Disaster that killed 125 miners on November 30, 1908. Gordon wrote the piece from the view of one of the miner's wives. She garnered readers' sympathies and compassion, earning her the motherhood of Sob-Sister reporting. She also pulled plenty of risks and "stunts" to get a fascinating story, like Nellie Bly, also making her known as a Stunt-Girl. 

Lastly, Elizabeth Garver Jordan had a gift to blur the line between fiction and non-fiction in her writing. It makes sense as throughout her journalistic career, she was an avid author. She was the most notable journalist to use sympathy as rhetoric. Her gift for dramatic human interest went as far as interesting then-First Lady Caroline Scott Harrison, who gave time to be interviewed by Jordan, which was rare for Mrs. Harrison.

Girl Reporters were revolutionary in early movements, like the American suffrage movement, and revolutionizing what was perceived as normal in the bullpen. It wasn't often to see women's bylines outside of the Women's Pages until radical women who pushed the line earned their spot and didn't day "no" for an answer. 

Women like those mentioned above provided more objective forms of journalism and used new tactics to get their stories. It's likely that some papers may have had an increased audience grabbing papers due to new stories an angles or women being interested in seeing which woman broke out of the Women's Pages, then-considered unconventional.