Good Night and Good Luck is a prominent period piece set in the 1950s regarding the journalstic integrity of broadcast
television. Clooney sets his scene with immaculate precision to period detail including the ubiquitous cloud of cigarette smoke too-liberally bandied about by the actors. The film is presented in black and white. The real-life documentary style clips of the McCarthy trials and press conferences blend in to the seamless narrative
At the heart of this story is Edward R Murrow (David Straithairn), a treasured American journalist who used the truth to expose the faults in Senator McCarthy's nationwide attack on communism. This dabble in truth-telling finds the film on the border of documentay and hollywood dramatised fiction.
The decision to use black and white cinematography can be seen as a metaphor for truth and lies, fact and fiction, what the government tells the public and what they do not. This metaphor takes the shape in the form of a sealed envelope which contains the apparent communist status of one Milo Radulovich. The film opens with this by-story and uses a tongue in cheek irony when it is made clear that no one knows the true contents of this sealed envelope - not the government, not the army generals and not Murrow himself. What is true is that Radulovich was labelled a communist because his father subscribed to a Serbian newspaper and his sister is rumoured to have communist tendencies. Murrow uses his show, "See it Now" to highlight the plight of those unfairly treated by the McCarthy onslaught. His controversial show causes ripples in the already paranoid atmosphere of 1950s America. And, soon, Sponsors are pulling out of CBS and McCarthy himself has issued a statement to disregard the facts of the show. But, Murrow and his crew of reporters stick to their facts. It takes guts and determination. In Murrow's words 'let us not confuse dissent with disloyalty... or mistake the value of the television medium to educate as well as entertain.'
This era of paranoia is beefed up with two other subplots in the film. The first is the 'secret marriage' of Joe and Shirley Weshba. CBS company policy states that members of staff may not be married. Although, their lie is harmless and (to be frank) perfectly banal, it serves as a comic relief to the tense newsroom. The second sub-plot worth mentioning is the suicide of CBS news anchorman Don Hollanbeck. Negative reviews by a harsh republican journalist, O'Brian over Hollanbeck's political allegiance leads to a severe case of anxiety. Hollanbeck cannot live with the unfounded accusations and consequentially the public thinking him a communist. It was common for innocent people to be labelled communists in this era.
Clooney brings to life a time when television was fast emerging to take over radio, when production techniques were new and editorial content mattered to such a point that journalists were willing to be fired for their views.