Good Night and Good Luck !

Good night and good luck is a black and white Drama movie directed by George Clooney. This film portrays the conflict between veteran radio and television journalist Edward R. Murrow and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin relating to the anti-communist senator’s actions with the senate Permanent subcommittee on Investigations.
The movie begins on October 25, 1958, at a fancy dinner tribute to Edward R. Murrow. It is the usual gala event affair, everyone is dressed up and looking expensive. Most of the people were smoking and having a drink. Ed Murrow was introduced as a hero who fought against McCarthyism. Ed came out and proceeds to make a speech about how journalism has become occupied with presenting only good news and how journalists have succumb to escapism, losing touch with the real world. This attack makes the audience uncomfortable and Fred Friendly looks like he’s having a good.
The newsmen are in a conference room, trying to decide news pieces for the next show. The Air Force officers’ rights to a fair trial were clearly violated, as he doesn’t even know the charges against him and found guilty anyway. The newsmen are reluctant to pursue this, afraid of a backlash from McCarthy. We see a bit of the show that runs after Eds, its Don Hollenbeck praising Eds courage and reporting. There is tense moments as everyone waits for the phones to ring and none do. Someone in the back asks if he should turn the phones back on and the tension is eased. The phones start ringing off the hook. Later, the crew, along with Don, is having drinks at a bar and decides to get the early edition newspaper reviews of the show. The first one came out very good, the second one not. Some people look relaxed, some angry, but Don looked very uneasy.
Bill doesn’t actually ask Fred to stop reporting on McCarthy issues; he seems to both enjoy yelling at Fred and also trust Freds judgment. Joe and Shirley are getting ready for work, before Joe leaves, Shirley reminds him to take off his wedding ring. It turns out that they are secretly married, which is against company policy. Later, Joe is approached by someone from the government, who warns Joe about running future McCarthy Pieces, saying, What if I told you that Ed Murrow was on the Soviet payroll in 1932?
McCarthy takes up the offer and basically uses the show to make a series of accusations about Eds ties to communism: a writer with communist ties had dedicated a book Ed, Ed was on the Soviet payroll in 1932 for some foreign exchange program which is known to be communist. Ed also says that since McCarthy didn’t refute any facts Ed reported about him, the world can assume they are true.
Joe and Shirley are called into the editors’ office and are told about an upcoming layoff. The editor mentions that it is against company policy for two employees to be married and everyone knows they are married. Bill Paley calls Fred and Ed into his office tells them that CBS lost the Alcoa sponsorship and will have to lay a lot of people off. Bill tells Ed that his show will be cut to 30 minutes from 1 hour, moved to Sunday afternoon and Ed will only do five more shows. Ed and Fred walk to the elevator and say that they might as well go out with a bang in their last five shows. Fred mentions that Joe and Shirley were married and Ed seems to be the only one who didn’t know.
Cut back to October 25, 1958. Ed finishes his speech saying that journalists are the ones with the responsibility to keep the public informed of the real world, regardless of its unpleasantness.