Last night I decided to watch Good Night and Good Luck, the 2005 film which George Clooney directed. In short, the film follows the real life conflict when Edward R. Murrow and his staff in the CBS newsroom choose to go up against Joseph McCarthy during his crusade against possible communists in the US. On the DVD ‘making of’ Clooney says the film is about ‘responsibility’. Or more specific, the responsibility television and it’s broadcast journalists have to represent opposition even if it flies in the face of corporate and sponsorship pressure. This being one of the through lines, the film ends with Murrow’s show being cancelled in light of an audience wanting more ‘entertaining’ shows, rather than ‘news’. It’s not clear if it’s the audience or the sponsors who want less challenging subject matter, but it’s clear that Murrow predicts a future
Joseph McCarthy
television that is stripped of serious subject matter and relies solely on entertainment. Just watch the major networks deliver the news today and it’s obvious there is much more sensationalizing than actual news. In the final scene, we see his speech given at the RTNDA convention in 1958where he suggests that we have a choice of how to use
television. ”This instrument 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.”
In todays world, the internet faces the same question. Will it ultimately be a tool for teaching? Can it illuminate our minds? Will it eventually be controlled by sponsorship? Will those of us who choose to use the internet to create art be controlled by those with deep pockets? Or will the government use it to pry into our daily lives? Is there freedom on the internet or is it just another form of control?
The internet is the most liberating of all mass media developed to date. It’s something that takes effort and you must participate. It’s also like swapping stories around a campfire or attending a renaissance fair. It is not meant solely to captivate an audience, the way movies or television does, but it provides an array of entertainment and information, on any subject, with any degree of formality, any time you want it. This is a reason why advertising might just fail on the internet. It’s because we, as individuals, can dictate our experience with it. However, if our internet experience ever changes from this distinguishing fact… if we allow ourselves to be more complacent, to have less control, to give over our ability to engage with it, that will be a turning point.
It’s our responsibility, as users of the internet, to dictate it’s potential. In Good Night and Good Luck, Edward Murrow quotes the play Julius Ceasar in an attempt to show that McCarthy’s rise to power was not his fault. McCarthy simply exploited the fear that already existed in America. And although we are a country who prefers to place blame rather than take responsibility, Murrow bravely points out that “The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves…”
I watched the film too. I think we are amusing ourselves to death!