Good Night and Good Luck

I wrote this over 8 months ago, but it still rings true to me.

"This instrument can teach, it can illuminate, and yes-it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it towards those ends. Otherwise, it is merely wires and lights in a box. Good night, and good luck."
-Edward R. Murrow

If those words were applicable 55 years ago, they are ten times more moving and relevant now. I just finished watching a very well-made film about the sparks that flew between Murrow and McCarthy during the fear and paranoia of the early '50s. I can't believe it took me three years to watch "Good Night and Good Luck."

What is our role in this convoluted mess of journalism, politics, corporate profit, and the struggle for viewer interest? How far are we, as journalists, willing to go to defend the truth? Perhaps many would just rather keep their jobs. One has to wonder, with all of the (much-needed) talk about fair coverage and objective reporting, at what point we're all allowed to step in and editorialize. Where does the line exist between the watchdog and the pundit? Yet where does the line exist between the stone face of fact and the talking head who merely reads the prompter? These are the questions I find myself asking, as an aspiring journalist who hopes to someday make a difference, yet who has never really shown an obvious affinity for editorial writing.

The head of CBS at the time, at the end of the movie, claims he's never outright censored Murrow, who answers that "not saying no" doesn't equate to a complete lack of prior review. To which Paley replies that even Murrow has been guilty of making decisions of what to and what not to report-a form of censorship in its own way.

We read our books, we go to class, and we work on our respective publications with objectivity in mind. We are incredulous as we watch FOX News reporters scream their opinions to civilians and shamelessly advertise the protest movements that seem to best fit their side of the coverage. We are equally as incredulous as we watch CNN belittle FOX, making a mockery of the business in a childish political shooting match.

As students eager to report the truth, many of us also have a small flair for activism. On one hand, we're told to curb our opinions and remain unbiased--even if our gut and many of our mentors and teachers advise us to continually strive to act as the watchdog. On the other hand, the world whispers that if we take these journalistic skills to the world of comedic commentary, we could make a whole lot of money. Some people are very tempted and many are able to resist.

This business isn't dying--it's changing rapidly. But as I, with many others, struggle to decide on a sequence, it's becoming apparent to everyone that the news business is muddled and confusing right now. 

Luckily, as I saw in the movie tonight, we have the examples of a major few who have successfully gone before us; to keep us on the right track when we can't even see the road.