In the Broadway production Good Night, and Good Luck, it was after Edward R. Murrow used his 1950s TV program to show clips of U.S. Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy making a fool of himself in his own words that Murrow got in trouble with news executives at CBS for practicing “advocacy” journalism. As one of the 7.3 million who watched the play broadcast live on CNN June 7, I was struck by how George Clooney, as playwright and actor, dealt well with journalistic issues being raised about political demagogues at work today. During a CNN panel discussion following the play-broadcast, Bret Stephens, a New York Times columnist, declared, “Reporters should keep their opinions to themselves.” Abby Phillip, a CNN news anchor, pushed back, asking, What’s more important, fact-finding or truth-telling? “Truth is in the eye of the beholder,” Stephens replied, to which Phillip said it is legitimate to report about “values,” as Murrow did. Another TV journalist this week said, more simply, we know who is in the White House and what he’s trying to do. The only question remaining is, What are we going to do about it? Clooney, as Murrow, concludes the play by quoting Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. …” – Fletcher Farrar, editor
This article appears in Juneteenth 2025.
This also includes ignoring the fact that President Otto Pen Biden was in severe mental decline. You know, his staff knew, the traitors in his staff and cabinet knew it. “Doctor” Jill knew it
Hiding relevant facts from the public is not a legitimate reporter’s job. This certainly explains why an alarmingly small percentage of the public trusts the media. Reap what you sow.