Goodnight and good luck

Question 1

Reporter on morrow’s team

Answer 1

Joe Wershba

Question 2

Murrow’s producer

Answer 2

Fred Friendly

Question 3

One of morrow’s bosses

Answer 3

Sig Mickelson

Question 4

The Head of CBS

Answer 4

Paley

Question 5

Newsman commits suicide

Answer 5

Don Hollenbeck

Question 6

host of See It now

Answer 6

murrow

Question 7

Who is in the audience when Murrow is speaking at the beginning and end of the movie?

Answer 7

Members of the Radio and television News Directors Association

Question 8

When CBS Boss William Paley tells Murrow that the sponsor won’t pay for the ads, who does Murrow say will pay them?

Answer 8

He and Fred Friendly will

Question 9

Who wants to approve the footage of the Milo Randulavich story?

Answer 9

The Military/ Air force

Question 10

Murrow and Fred Friendly think people should endlessly discuss the balance between protecting what two things?

Answer 10

National Security and rights of the individual

Question 11

Why do Murrow and Friendly indicate it is important to tell the story of Joseph McCarthy March 9, 1954, almost completely with previously created tapes of him and use much of his own words as possible?

Answer 11

Less of Murrow’s opinion is in the piece, not “trying him in the press” as Paley says he is doing; it’s Murrow’s way of being careful (a term Friendly uses when talking to the reporting team); because “a report on Senator McCarthy is by definition controversial, we want to say exactly what we mean to say” so Murrow even reads his remarks from a script

Question 12

William Paley warns Murrow to “cut loose” anyone on his crew under what circumstances?

Answer 12

Anyone who might be accused of being a Communist, of having any ties at all through family or past relationships and experiences

Question 13

What is the significance of the phones not ringing after the McCarthy show airs?

Answer 13

The crew is waiting for response to the show and none comes, and then they realize an employee turned off the phones earlier and has not turned them back on. When he does that, the phones start to ring.

Question 14

What sort of reviews does the show get in the next morning’s newspapers?

Answer 14

The New York Times’ Jack Gould is glowing in his review (“It was an exciting and provocative examination…crusading journalism….”). Jack O’Brian of the New York Journal American is critical, not a surprise to Murrow and his crew, and he refers to Murrow as “Machiavellian” adding CBS should “clean house” and get rid of Murrow’s “protégé,” Hollenbeck

Question 15

What does Murrow predict McCarthy’s approach will be when he goes on air to rebut the show about him? Is he correct?

Answer 15

Murrow says, “He’s going to come after me. There’s nothing more he can do.” This is indeed what he does, claiming Murrow was a member of the International Workers of the World, engaged in propaganda for the Communists when he was acting director of the International Institute of Education, doing “a job normally done by the secret police.” He says Murrow, not McCarthy, is giving comfort to the enemy and should not be allowed into the homes of millions of Americans.

Question 16

What two commercials does the movie show from “See It Now?” How are they related to the movie’s content?

Answer 16

Alcoa, the sponsor that has military contracts and won’t advertise on the Radulovich program, runs a commercial about aluminum use on farms. Kent cigarettes’ spokesperson says the company advertises on “See It Now” because the audience is “above average in intelligence” and “not easily persuaded by advertising.” The company’s slogan is, “Kent makes good sense and good smoking, too.”

Question 17

When Sig Mickelson confronts Joe and Shirley about their marriage, what is their reaction?

Answer 17

They aren’t surprised. As soon as he leaves the room, they retrieve their wedding rings and put them on. Shirley says she’ll miss working with him, but they are laughing. In this era it would be normal for the woman to leave and let the man support the family.

Question 18

How does William Paley change Murrow and Friendly’s show?

Answer 18

He takes it off Tuesday night prime time and puts it on Sunday afternoon, making it an hour instead of a half hour and not on every week. Murrow says, “Why don’t you just fire me?”

Question 19

Summarize CBS head William Paley’s concerns about the controversial material Murrow and Friendly are airing on “See It Now.”

Answer 19

Key points: losing sponsor, cost of show, public wanting to be entertained.

Question 20

The movie tells us in the beginning, “Few in the Press were willing to stand up against McCarthy for fear they, too, would be targeted.” Murrow and his team take on McCarthy, but how do they cope with their fear?

Answer 20

Key points: They are a close-knit group, planning shows together, cheering after a good show, celebrating at the bar. They are willing to quit if it is the best for the show (crew member with ex-wife and left-wing connections). They don’t believe accusations about each other (Joe and the envelope with information about Murrow, Murrow’s reaction to Hollenbeck being labeled a “pinko”). However, they are tense before and during the controversial shows, totally silent when the phones don’t ring.