Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) - Quotes

Facing Power Through Truth Alone

Taglines: They Took On The Government With Nothing But The Truth

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Courage to Speak Truth in Troubling Times

Taglines: In A Nation Terrorized By Its Own Government, One Man Dared to Tell The Truth

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Embracing Courage Over Fear

Taglines: We will not walk in fear of each other.

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Invitation to a Knickerbocker Game

William Paley: There's a Knickerbocker game tonight, I've got front row seats. Are you interested?

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Consequences of Responsibility in Journalism

William Paley: My cards. You lose, what happens? Five guys find themselves out of work. I'm responsible for a hell of a lot more than five god damned reporters. Let it go. McCarthy will self-destruct.

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Support and Solidarity Through Time

William Paley: I'm with you today Ed, and I'm with you tomorrow.

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Going Down Swinging

Fred Friendly: Might as well go down swinging.

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Activating Communication in Critical Moments

Fred Friendly: Turn the phones on!

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Encouragement to Create News and Impact

Fred Friendly: There's no news, boys, so go out there and make some news. Rob a bank, mug an old lady, whatever - just do something.

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McCarthy on Murrow's Symbolism and Leadership

Joseph McCarthy: Now, ordinarily--I would not take time out from the important work at hand to answer Murrow. However, in this case, I feel justified in doing so because Murrow is a symbol,a leader and the cleverest of the jackal pack which is always found at the throat of anyone who dares to expose individual Communists and traitors.

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McCarthy Responds to Murrow's Criticism

Joseph McCarthy: Good evening. Mr. Edward R. Murrow, Educational Director of the Columbia Broadcasting System, devoted his program to an attack on the work of the United States Senate Investigating Committee, and on me personally as its chairman, and over the past four years he has made repeated attacks upon me and those fighting Communists.

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The Dangers of Media Distraction and Delusion

Edward R. Murrow: 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.

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Accountability Lies Within Ourselves

Edward R. Murrow: [[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar] Referring to a line from ] recited by Senator McCarthy: Had Senator McCarthy looked just three lines earlier he would have found this: "The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves...”

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Truth and Deception in Cigarette Rituals

Edward R. Murrow: Funny thing, Freddie, every time you light a cigarette for me, I know you're lying.

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Responsibility for Fear Lies Within Ourselves

Edward R. Murrow: The actions of the Junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And who's fault is that? Not really his; he didn't create this situation of fear, he merely exploited it, and rather successfully. Cassius was right: the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. Good night, and good luck.

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Defending Freedom at Home and Abroad

Edward R. Murrow: This is no time for men who oppose Sen. McCarthy's methods to keep silent or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of the republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom where ever it still exists in the world. But we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.

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Courage in the Face of Fear

Edward R. Murrow: We will not walk in fear, one of another…. We are not descended from fearful men — not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular….

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Dissent vs. Disloyalty in Investigative Ethics

Edward R. Murrow: The line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one, and the junior senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly…. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law.

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The Importance of Congressional Committees

Edward R. Murrow: No one familiar with the history of his country, can deny that congressional committees are useful. It is necessary to investigate before legislating.

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Confronting Fear in the Room

Edward R. Murrow: We're going with this story. Because the terror is right here in this room.

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Defending Freedom at Home and Abroad

Edward R. Murrow: We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.

Acknowledgment of Patience

Edward R. Murrow: Thank you for your patience.

Television's Role in the Battle for Survival

Edward R. Murrow: Stonewall Jackson, who is generally believed to have known something about weapons, is reported to have said, "When war comes, you must draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." The trouble with television is that it is rusting in the scabbard during a battle for survival.

The Power and Responsibility of Television

Edward R. Murrow: This instrument can teach; it can illuminate; yes, and even it can inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it's nothing but 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.

The Importance of Engaging Media

Edward R. Murrow: To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent, and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse, and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost.

Reflections on Media Responsibility and Integrity

Edward R. Murrow's Radio-Television News Directors Association Convention Address, delivered 15 October 1958, Chicago, Illinois: *End of quotes from Convention Address

Concerns About Broadcasting's Impact on Society

Edward R. Murrow's Radio-Television News Directors Association Convention Address, delivered 15 October 1958, Chicago, Illinois: Believing that potentially the commercial system of broadcasting as practiced in this country is the best and freest yet devised, I have decided to express my concern about what I believe to be happening to radio and television. These instruments have been good to me beyond my due. There exists in my mind no reasonable grounds for any kind of personal complaint. I have no feud, either with my employers, any sponsors, or with the professional critics of radio and television. But I am seized with an abiding fear regarding what these two instruments are doing to our society, our culture, and our heritage.

Responsibility in Broadcasting and Personal Accountability

Edward R. Murrow's Radio-Television News Directors Association Convention Address, delivered 15 October 1958, Chicago, Illinois: All of these things -- All of these things you know. You should also know at the outset that, in the manner of witnesses before Congressional committees, I appear here voluntarily -- by invitation; that I am an employee of the Columbia Broadcasting System; that I am neither an officer nor any longer a director of that corporation; and that these remarks are strictly of a "do-it-yourself" nature. If what I have to say is responsible, then I alone am responsible for the saying of it. Seeking neither approbation from my employers, nor news sponsors, nor acclaim from the critics of radio and television, I cannot very well be disappointed.

The Weight of Amplified Voices

Edward R. Murrow's Radio-Television News Directors Association Convention Address, delivered 15 October 1958, Chicago, Illinois: I have no technical advice or counsel to offer those of you who labor in this vineyard, the one that produces words and pictures. You will, I am sure, forgive me for not telling you that the instruments with which you work are miraculous, that your responsibility is unprecedented, or that your aspirations are frequently frustrated. It is not necessary to remind you of the fact that your voice, amplified to the degree where it reaches from one end of the country to the other, does not confer upon you greater wisdom than when your voice reached only from one end of the bar to the other.

Challenges Facing Radio and Television Media

Edward R. Murrow's Radio-Television News Directors Association Convention Address, delivered 15 October 1958, Chicago, Illinois: This just might do nobody any good. At the end of this discourse a few people may accuse this reporter of fouling his own comfortable nest, and your organization may be accused of having given hospitality to heretical and even dangerous thoughts. But I am persuaded that the elaborate structure of networks, advertising agencies, and sponsors will not be shaken or altered. It is my desire, if not my duty, to try to talk to you journeymen with some candor about what is happening to radio and television in this generous and capacious land.