"Just once in a while, let us exalt the importance of ideas and information" - Edward Murrow. What do you make of this quote and the events surrounding it?

About Edward Murrow
About Good Night, and Good Luck

I’ve been studying the movie Good Night and Good Luck in my english class and have been looking into this quote. (This is homework, but only a healthy discussion to get my cogs turning, not specific questions that I am required to answer, most are my own questions.)

If you have seen the movie or know the story of Edward Murrow, it might be easier for you to contribute to this discussion but even if you haven’t your input about the ideas behind it is welcome :)

What can be gained from imagining the past?

Who can we look to for ideas and information?

What happens when the importance of ideas and information is diminished? What replaces information? How are judgments made when information is unreliable?

In Edward Murrow’s time there was TV and radio, now we have the internet. Information spreads incredibly quickly, and it’s not always correct. What are your views on the way people find information and what difference the internet makes?

Can we compare the hunt for communists to the war on terror? Senator McCarthy to Bush?

Ideas and information can bring people together, but also divide them. What are your views on this?

Is it reasonable to say that the absence of information breeds assumptions, accusations, and people who don’t have information can be controlled by those who do?

In V for Vendetta, it is implied that once an idea is born, it can never die. People who represent that idea can die but the idea will always live on. What do you think of this?

What do you think of the whole twitter/Iran thing?

What do you think about media bias? I’m reminded of this question.Got anything to say about this?