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Question One
During the term, we saw portions of four movies—“Citizen Kane,” “Sweet Smell of Success,” “Good Night and Good Luck,” and “All the President’s Men.” Describe how each of these movies either represented accurately or distorted William Randolph Hearst, Walter Winchell, Edward R. Murrow and the Watergate scandal.
“Citizen Kane” was a movie that was produced in the 1940s by Orson Welles. The movie sought to highlight the flipside life of the media tycoon William Randolph Hearst. The movie outlines the attributes that William Randolph used to propel himself from owning one newspaper in San Francisco to having a dozen chains of newspaper companies in the United States of America. The movie taints the image of William because it highlights that he engaged in various unethical journalistic practices in order to get people to buy his newspapers. When William learnt of the movie, he used his influence to ensure that the movie was not released. This worked for some time but eventually the movie was released. The movie highlighted that some of the news covered in the newspapers owned by William had been fabricated.
“Sweet Smell of Success” is a movie which highlights the influence that Walter Winchell had as a journalist. According to the movie, Walter Winchell is a popular columnist whose pieces are read vastly by the American public. However, he uses his influence as a columnist to get favors from influential people. The movie depicts a scenario whereby Walter Winchell uses his column to paint the sister’s fiancé in bad light just because he does not like the man his sister is dating. The movie significantly taints the image of Walter Winchell as a credible journalist.
“Good Night and Good Luck” was produced in 2005 and was directed by George Clooney. The movie highlighted the public spat between Joseph McCarthy
References: Berbstein, C & Woodward, B 1974, All the President’s Men, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, NewYork. Edwards, R 2010, Edward R. Murroe and the birth of broadcast journalism, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York. Herzstein, RE 1994, Henry R. Luce: a political portrait of the man who created the American century, C. Scribner’s Sons, New York. New Word City Editors 2010, Katherine Graham’s Way, New Word City Editors, New York. Swanberg, AW 1996, Citizen Hearst: A Biography of William Randolph Hearst, Scribner, America.