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Good Night and Tough Luck
An Essay by:
Rob C. Wilson
MC 40-317
Dr. Doug Sudoff
Sec. 1.1 - Introduction and Focus
Edward Murrow is often lamented in the field of journalism and broadcasting as a pioneer and innovator that shaped the industry for those who followed him. His courage in standing up to the pressures of the Second Red Scare (and specifically Senator McCarthy) gave focus to not only media power, but also media responsibility. The film “Good Night and Good Luck” tells a narrative of this history in a very engaging and convincing manner.
Using the textbook Mass Communication Ethics and the contents of classroom lecture, this essay will analyze the film and offer support for the following three contentions:
Sec. 1.2 –Murrow’s Ethical Framework.
Perched above the main entrance to the administration building on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University is engraved the timeless message “The truth shall set you free”. This is in reference to the original Latin version of the phrase Veritas liberabit vos which is mentioned in the Bible (Gospel of John, verse 8:32).
While I make no claim that Murrow had any spiritual motivations as the guiding principle for his actions on “See It Now”, I think it is fairly obvious that his interest from the onset was exposing what he thought to be injustice and falsity. Truth, as a philosophical concept, is a term that is discussed in great length in the text Mass Communication Ethics and in far more exhausting detail in the academic discipline holistically. For the sake of clarity, I offer the following operational definition from Theories of Truth, by NYU scholar Paul Horwich:
“The conformity of a proposition to the way things are. Precise analysis of the nature of truth is the subject of the correspondence, coherence, pragmatic, redundancy, and semantic theories of truth” {Horwich, 1994}.
Using this definition as a guide, it adds increased validity to the claim that Murrow sought exposing the truth as his principle motivation. Murrow and Friendly felt that Senator McCarthy’s actions were either grossly overstated or else outright fabrication. This is most readily evidenced in the film during its rising action (to use a literary term). During numerous meetings in the news bullpen and elsewhere, the broadcasters carefully assess how to proceed and make certain that their actions are consistent with factual information.
Even more telling is how Murrow and his colleagues are readily aware of the potential harsh consequences of their actions (both personally and professionally) yet they still decide to proceed regardless.
Human beings have an instinctual sense of self preservation, and do not generally engage in actions which threaten this without significant cause. In the case of Edward Murrow, his desire to provide the American public with accurate and factual reporting superseded his desire for career stability or national political solidarity. Courage like this is a building block of human integrity that sets a very high standard for those who work in the media in the present time.
Sec. 1.3- External Pressure on Murrow
Initially, Murrow enjoys a laissez faire type of arrangement with producers and executives at CBS, but at the film wears on this begins to deteriorate significantly. The driving force behind this deterioration comes from CBS chairman Bill Paley and culminates at the end with Murrow being given an ultimatum of sorts; whereby he can take a significant demotion of both airtime and autonomy or else seek employment elsewhere (although this is not actually stated in the film, merely implied)
Paley, much because of the nature of his corporate position, is mainly concerned with a business model not an ethical one. The nature of media advertising at the time centered on sponsorship, not spots as it common practice today. As a result, the Alcoa Company had significant influence on the decision making at CBS. This seems insane by our modern media model since it would equate to McDonalds telling CBS is was interesting in pulling an episode of CSI because it disagreed with the content of the show. Nonetheless, these types of exerted pressures did weight heavy on the mind of Murrow throughout the film but never seemed to shake his ethical resolve.
Additional pressure, and I would argue the most significant, comes from within the media realm itself. After the initial broadcast on Senator McCarthy, Murrow and coworkers retire to a pub to witness the aftereffects of their broadcast and to await the print media to run its stories on the show. It would appear by their anticipation that the reviews of his show from various prominent newspaper writings of the time prove to hold the most weight. I draw a parallel between this situation and many Hollywood actors of today who claim that awards that come from the Screen Actors Guild are ultimately more rewarding than those given out by other sources because it is recognition that is granted from ones peers. Murrow obviously has respect and admiration for his colleagues in print journalism and considers their input on “See It Now” to hold the most prominence. When he is met with substantial praise and recognition from these outlets (save one) it solidifies his ethical stance against McCarthyism.
Sec. 1.4- Philosophical and Ethical Parallels.
I offer Peter Abelard as my first philosophical comparison to the actions of Edward Murrow in the film. It was Abelard’s contention that no actions are inherently right or wrong, but that the intentions of said actions are what determines its ethical validity {Leslie, 2004}. While it would be impossible to take on a degree of omnipotence and be able to ascertain definitively what Murrow’s intentions at the time were, the anecdotal and observational evidence provided in the film point towards the fact that Murrow was acting out of pure heart and motive. However, as is often the case, pure motives do not insure perfect results, and Murrow’s career began a downward turn at the conclusion of the film. Ironically, Peter Abelard himself spent the majority of the latter portion of his life as an ostracized and disgraced individual.
One an opposite but equally prominent end of the spectrum for Edward Murrow echoes the philosophy of Voltaire. While Abelard was concerned with intentions, Voltaire was the champion of reason and emotional control to achieve favorable outcomes. Pragmatic examples of using raw emotion in place calculating reason are endless within our contemporary society, and this is certainly evidenced in the realm of politics. It seems that few topics in the history of humanity have the power to reduce otherwise sane and reasonable people into sophomoric psychopaths. When Murrow entered the political arena through the media, he was entering fairly uncharted waters for a newsman of the time period, and also a period where passions and tempers were heated to capacity.
What was most impressive throughout the film was Murrow’s reason and composure in the face of an agenda driven fanaticism. After McCarthy had used his time on the show to make baseless claims and ad hominem style attacks, Murrow responded with a dignified and rational composure of reason. He took the higher path and history has remembered him for it, much the same way that history has been kind to another outspoken thinker from Paris named Voltaire.
References
Horwich, Paul B. (1994). Theories of Truth (The International Research Library of Philosophy, No 8)693-703. doi:10.1093/analys/anq073
Leslie, Larry, Z. (2004). Mass Communication Ethics: decision making in postmodern culture, 2nd edn (Book). Journalism Studies, 5(4), 555-556.
Sudhoff, D (2011) Media Criticism and Responsibility, Classroom lectures and notations. Northwest Missouri State University.
