Why can't people write like Ed Murrow any more?

Rating: 9/10 (4 March 2007)

As my title indicates, I was extremely impressed by everything Ed Murrow is presented as saying, which presumably represents what he actually did say. Maybe I'm being unfair to modern-day broadcasters (and being British I don't see American news programmes anyway), but I do not get the impression that anyone working now has that kind of authority.
Just hearing the man speak was enough to make this film very worthwhile. I felt that the use of documentary footage was just a little excessive, especially when we got parts repeated, and one did ned to pay close attention to be clear what was going on. It was not always entirely clear who people were, and, no doubt deliberately, the hubbub of comment made catching what any individual was saying difficult at times. But it all felt authentic - and, omigawd, the *smoking*! (None of the women smoked, that I noticed - a tribute to the days when it was felt rather fast, if not a sign of a dissolute or dangerous woman as in film noir?).
I hope that everyone who saw this took away some lessons. The use of smear tactics, guilt by association, etc. and the demonising of groups perceived as alien or hostile has not diminished, and is practised all over the world (cf. the President of Iran on Jews); the reluctance of powerful organisations to have their actions questioned and be required to justify them publicly has not diminished.
Given that the media played a major role in turning the US against the Vietnam War, some of Ed Murrow's gloom about the future of TV, as expressed in 1958, might be thought excessive. But the points he made are still valid today - and it was very interesting to hear him indicate doubts about American policy in the Middle East, in 1958.