No Sheep

Edward R Murrow

// November 6th, 2005 // My Stuff

I finally got out to see Good Night, and Good Luck in Concord. It was just as great as I had hoped. George Clooney co-wrote and directed this film which truly transported me to the 1950′s. The mix of new black and white film with the old news footage was spectacular. This was especially effective since anyone playing McCarthy would have come off over the top, insane, and poorly done. The senator was not believable in real life, how could any actor accomplish such a feat?

Anyway, the movie left me with great respect for Murrows, Friendly, and the early days of true television journalism.

Here are a few Murrow quotes from Wikiquote I think are particularly appropriate today:

“The speed of communications is wondrous to behold. It is also true that speed can multiply the distribution of information that we know to be untrue.”
- On receiving the “Family of Man” Award (1964)

“We hardly need to be reminded that we are living in an age of confusion—a lot of us have traded in our beliefs for bitterness and cynicism or for a heavy package of despair, or even a quivering portion of hysteria. Opinions can be picked up cheap in the market place while such commodities as courage and fortitude and faith are in alarmingly short supply.”
- This I Believe (1951)

“No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices.”
- Speech to his staff (1954)

“We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable and complacent. We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late.”
- RTNDA Convention Speech (1958)

“Anyone who isn’t confused really doesn’t understand the situation.”
- Attributed

murrow, edward r murrow, george clooney, clooney, fred friendly, cbs, mccarthy, joseph mccarthy, quotes, quote, politics, communism, red scare, journalism

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