The movie Good Night and Good Luck tells of the fateful battle between Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy and See it Now’s host Edward Murrow. Unlike ancient times this battle was not fought with weaponry and sly tactics, but the use of television and arguments. Edward Murrow recites a speech: Our history will be what we make it. 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. I invite your attention to the television schedules of all networks between the hours of 8 and 11 p.m., Eastern Time. Here you will find only fleeting and spasmodic reference to the fact that this nation is in mortal danger. There are, it is true, occasional informative programs presented in that intellectual ghetto on Sunday afternoons. But during the daily peak viewing periods, television in the main insulates us from the realities of the world in whic...
The intended effect of “American History” was to entertain and show how TV news and news in general affects people. In contrast the intended effect of “Tv Coverage…” was to inform readers how John F. Kennedy's assassination affected the news.
On the Halloween of 1938, H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds premiered on the radio in America, causing panic and confusion on a national level. To illustrate, Huxley’s theory that entertainment will impact a society on how its citizens think, how they record and display information, and how they communicate with one another is best displayed by the aforementioned incident. This incident arose because this radio drama (intended to entertain) was presented in a decontextualized and abrupt manner—stating that aliens had invaded the earth— and most people indubitably believed it. In addition, this situation can be supported by Postman’s term, “news of the day,” forming an image that society’s media can control its citizens to form opinions and emotions rather than take immediate action when presented with unorthodox news or
Neil Postman is deeply worried about what technology can do to a culture or, more importantly, what technology can undo in a culture. In the case of television, Postman believes that, by happily surrendering ourselves to it, Americans are losing the ability to conduct and participate in meaningful, rational public discourse and public affairs. Or, to put it another way, TV is undoing public discourse and, as the title of his book Amusing Ourselves to Death suggests, we are willing accomplices.
"Remarks made during 'Quiz Show and the Future of Television'." Annenberg Washington Program. http://www.annenberg.nwu.edu/pubs/quiz/remarks.htm (3/11/97).
In his novel, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman describes to the reader, in detail, the immediate and future dangers of television. The argument starts out in a logical manner, explaining first the differences between today's media-driven society, and yesterday's "typographic America". Postman goes on to discuss in the second half of his book the effects of today's media, politics on television, religion on television, and finally televised educational programs. He explains that the media consists of "fragments of news" (Postman, 1985, p.97), and politics are merely a fashion show. Although Postman's arguments regarding the brevity of the American attention span and the importance of today's mass media are logical, I do not agree with his opinion of television's inability to educate.
The type of media we saw in the McCarthy era still exists today in political media. Journalist such as Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Keith Olbermann keep the Murrow public service attitude very much alive.
The many evils that exist within television’s culture were not foreseen back when televisions were first put onto the market. Yet, Postman discovers this very unforgiveable that the world did not prepare itself to deal with the ways that television inherently changes our ways of communication. For example, people who lived during the year 1905, could not really predict that the invention of a car would not make it seem like only a luxurious invention, but also that the invention of the car would strongly affect the way we make decisions.
"Kennedy, John F." Television in American Society Reference Library. Ed. Laurie Collier Hillstrom and Allison McNeill. Vol. 3: Primary Sources. Detroit: UXL, 2007. 65-76. U.S. History in Context. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. Source.
Edward R. Murrow’s profound impact on the field of journalism defines much of what the modern news media industry is today. Edward R. Murrow’s career offers aspiring journalist a detailed set of standards and moral codes in how a journalist should receive and report the news. The development of CBS is largely attributed to Murrow, and derives from his ambitious attitude in utilizing the television and radio to deliver the news. Murrow gained a stellar reputation in the minds of American’s during WWII by placing himself in the heart of the war, and delivering information through radio in his famous This is London broadcasts. His battles with Senator Joseph McCarthy are largely referred to as his most prominent achievement in which Murrow exposed the unfair practices of Senator McCarthy in his wild accusations on those in the American public of being affiliated with communism. At the RTNDA conference Murrow arguably deliver his most famous speech, which included his hopes and fears of the news media industry in years to come. Although much of today’s news media industry would be held in disdain in the mind of Murrow his practices are still referred due and held in high regard by his contemporaries and fellow aspiring journalist. Edward R. Murrow set the standard of American journalism, and had the largest individual impact on the news media industry in history.
Looking the historical moment we are living at, it is undeniable that the media plays a crucial role on who we are both as individuals and as a society, and how we look at the...
Jeffrey D. Sachs’s essay “ A Nation of Vidiot” focuses on his views about the American relationship with televisions. In his essay explaining why people should avoid watching TV too much. And the author also gives readers a reason to believe in the articles that he wrote. He explained the problem to television advertising used to sell the product and the country's politics. There are fine examples why developing countries the consequences that have ever television were created. And he has to convince his readers when he criticized some of the problems seen too much television can cause people watch television as reduced memory, and body weakness. However, for the children, the TV screens the main tool of the children. The authors also offer TV how difficult and dangerous for television viewers. Overall it’s a pretty interesting read, but one thing is sure: the essay is a
In Good Night and Good Luck, director George Clooney follows the conflict between outspoken television journalist Edward R. Murrow and anti-communist Senator Joseph McCarthy during the hard times of the Red Scare. Murrow uses his television show to expose McCarthy’s fallacious arguments, while providing his own opinion on the matter. He begins by defending former Air Force pilot Milo Radulovich as not being the Communist agent McCarthy charges him to be. Due to his radical messages against McCarthy, advertisers begin pulling their advertisements. Thus Good Night and Good Luck was placed at an undesired time slot on Sunday afternoons, and allotted five last episodes. The conflict between Murrow and McCarthy is so deep that due to his outspoken messages against a politician, the program eventually becomes subject to cancellation. Although his arguments are controversial for that time, Murrow shows courage while exposing McCarthy’s fallacious arguments, by displaying how McCarthy is making false accusations towards Radulovich.
Paul S. Boyer. "Television." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Retrieved November 24, 2011 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-Television.html
McLeod, Michael. Does TV Kill?. Production of Oregon Public Broadcasting for "Frontline". Videorecording. PBS Video, 1997.
Encyclopedia of the New American Nation. Television – Tv news and the early cold war. 2013. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.