Good Luck and Good Night

After watching the film for more than a half hour completely lost as to what exactly what was going on in the movie, it abruptly ended. Then we learned that the movie had not started from the beginning, but from the middle of the film. This would explain the confusion everyone in class had on their faces as the credits rolled up on the screen. Sure, I am familiar with the McCarthy era, but starting in the middle of any film would be confusing.
I must admit that upon watching it the first time around, I was deeply interested in the movie and really enjoying. Even though I was a little lost. But after stopping the movie and starting it all over again, it was hard to regain that focus and that interest. All in all though, I really enjoyed the movie.
I am not familiar with broadcast journalism, but I saw that there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes and a lot of decisions that have to be made. There were decisions such as what topics to discuss, what to air and what not to air, etc. I think that I could watch the film again in one sitting, just so that I can really pay attention without interruptions.

Good Night, And Good Luck

Before watching Good Night, And Good Luck in JRN 305, I was unaware of what this movie was and what it was about. I was impressed by the movie and even more impressed that George Clooney was a co-writer, seeing as he is one of my favorite actors.

I was aware of McCarthyism and had learned about it in my history classes, but I never knew the role journalism played in stopping these accusations. Knowing this makes me proud of the journalism industry and makes me confident that the major I've chosen is the right one for me.

I think that taking risks and revealing the truth are two of the most important aspects of journalism and Edward Murrow sure did take a risk. After watching the movie I googled all of the people involved and was very intrigued by each of their stories.

I think it was a great way to end our semester and enjoyed watching it!

Good Night my Good Luck

So I watched Good Night and Good Luck for my JRN 305 class, but you all know that, as you all had to watch it too. To reiterate the question I must answer in this blog post, what did I learn from the movie? I assume that also includes how does that shape my view of copy editing.
Well, I had already seen the movie, and knew about the McCarthy era, so I did not learn a great deal about the time period. But I did learn a lot about the pressures brought about from sponsors and the military. I knew sponsors will pressure organizations to run or not run stories based on their own agendas, but I had not noticed in the movie how this played out the previous time I watched it.
If I learned anything, it was that you should stand fast against corporations. They are evil.

Good Night and Good Luck

I had not seen Good Night and Good Luck until this morning. It is a movie I had been meaning to watch and I was very impressed. 

I do not know much about broadcast journalism, but I do know newsroom structure, writing, editing and ethics. The newsroom was similar to what I know, throwing around stories and discussing what to report, but the overhead of Murrow’s boss, William Paley, was really shocking. He claimed that he never censored, always supported Murrow and lost advertising support to defend his reports. He gets very hot headed when discussing Murrow’s reporting and how omitting the other side of the story or the truth within Murrow’s stories was censoring. He moved Murrow’s show from Tuesdays to Sunday afternoons, a death sentence in broadcast, because his reports were losing advertisers support. 

This movie was an example of the good that journalism can do. Murrow and his supportive team exposed Senator John McCarthy of Wisconsin and saved a lot of people their jobs and the reputations. The one thing I kept coming back to and thinking about was the advertising. As long as news organizations continue to reach the public there will be advertisers, but pleasing the advertiser over reporting the truth leads to an ethical situation. The advertisers are the ones that are making news organizations profitable, but the job of the journalist is to report the truth, accurately and fairly. You can't always please the advertiser and from what I have learned, they will come back over time.

Good Night and Good Luck

Before class, I've never seen Good Night and Good Luck even though I'm wanted to for awhile. I knew the journalistic happenings surrounding McCarthyism, but brought a new view to censorship in journalism. If Edward Murrow hadn't taken that stand, and CBS that chance, who knows what would have happened. People would have lost their jobs because of the assumption they were communists, and Murrow and his coworkers stood up for those. I also know that advertising is what basically keeps a newspaper running. It was a strong point that even after hearing advertisers may pull out from the show, Murrow would split the cost and pay for the ads to keep the stand going.

I'm glad we watched this movie in class, though, I don't know if I viewed it different than I would have if I had seen it when it came out. Advertising and censorship wasn't news to me, but really seeing what Murrow and CBS did during McCarthyism showed me how serious things were back then, and if Murrow hadn't taken a stand, we'd live in a different media society.

Good Night and Good Luck

I've seen "Good Night, and Good Luck" a couple times before this class. I've been interested in journalism for a long time, so I don't think my perceptions really changed upon the viewing in this class.

The fact is that as long as journalism is profitable, there will be clashes over advertising dollars versus the content that's produced. Bill Paley's predicament is not unusual by any stretch of the imagination.

For instance, The State News won't publish negative stories against DTN because the loss of their advertising dollars in the paper would cripple the staff. Is an investigative article about the problems of DTN really worth the destruction of the paper? I'm not sure.

Edward R. Murrow probably would have taken that stand, though.

Dec. 4 and Beyond

Our last scheduled session is Thursday, Dec. 4.
I will meet with you individually to discuss your performance in the class and your final grade.
It will be an opportunity also for you to discuss my performance and what you did, or didn't, get out of the class.
The one-on-one meetings will be done in the following order, beginning at 8 a.m.:
Stephanie DeFever
Christopher Parks
Katie Kolenda
Akasha Starr
Peter Gross
Kelly House
Shelby Szkula
Mike Blasky
Nikki Koliopoulos
Michelle Crechiolo
I'm guessing each meeting will take no longer than 5 minutes.
We will not have a final exam, but I will be available during that time, 7:45 to 9:45 a.m. Monday, Dec. 8, in the classroom.
- Vic