Missourinet

"Good Night and Good Luck" panel discussion

A panel discussion about the motion picture “Good Night and Good Luck” was conducted September 20 in Washington under the auspices of the Radio-Television News Directors Association and Warner Independent Pictures. The panel --moderated by Marvin Kalb, former CBS correspondent-- was made up of George Clooney, producer, co-writer, and co-star of the movie; David Strathairn, lead actor who portrays Edward R. Murrow in the movie, and Grant Heslov, co-writer of the movie who also plays a minor role (Don Hewitt of 60 Minutes fame). Giving preliminary remarks was Barbara Cochran, the President of RTNDA. The first few minutes of the recording are with Bill Roswell, News Director of KYW, Philadelphia, a member of the RTNDA Board. Missourinet News Director Bob Priddy consulted on the movie.

Good Night, and Good Luck

Edward R. Murrow is the subject of a new film co-written and directed by George Clooney. "Good Night, and Good Luck" deals with Murrow's efforts to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy. Missourinet News Director Bob Priddy did a little consult on the film (and got his picture taken with George Clooney):

"The producers came to me (I'm the RTNDA historian) to confirm where the convention was held, to get the RTNDA logo we were using in 1958, and to get information I had from several people who were there at the time about Murrow’s mood, the audience reaction, and Murrow’s own reactions after the speech. One of those I interviewed for the RTNDA oral history project referred to it as “Murrow’s suicide speech.” Murrow at the time was dismayed at what he perceived to be a swing toward too much entertainment and away from hard news and some criticisms he had recently gotten from CBS founder William S. Paley when he gave the speech. In a little more than two years, he left CBS to become the head of the United States Information Agency in the Kennedy administration. He died a few years after that of cancer."

The movie begins and ends with parts of Edward R. Murrow’s famous "Lights and Wires in a Box” speech to the RTNDA convention in 1958.