Here's how you can use the (free) global broadcast of this Broadway play to teach some lessons about why we need journalism (and also have some fun)
The world will get a front row seat June 7 for one of the best media literacy lessons of all time about why journalism is good to have around, thanks to Cable News Network (CNN).
That night viewers will be able to see — for free — the Broadway play Good Night & Good Luck about how one journalist and his producer helped to take down a would-be American despot.
And we’ve collected some lesson plans for teachers to help students get more out of the experience.
The play is the stage version of the 2005 film by George Clooney and Grant Heslov that portrays how Columbia Broadcasting Service (CBS) journalist Edward R. Murrow stood up to Senator Joseph McCarthy as McCarthy defamed and ruined the careers of hundreds of people in the 1950s based on unsubstantiated claims that they were helping Communists infiltrate the government.
CNN will broadcast the limited-run play’s penultimate performance live from the Winter Garden Theatre in New York. It will be available domestically and everywhere else via CNN International broadcasts and streaming on CNN.com. And, yes it meant watching at some crazy times, such as 01h on the 8th in Central Eastern Europe.
The broadcast will also include pre-show coverage outside the theatre. Afterwards CNN plans to air a discussion of the perilous state of today’s journalism globally.
The broadcast package is the latest and largest example of educational outreach around the Broadway production and also 2005 film. Fifty student journalists linked to the Press Pass NYC and the Youth Journalism Coalition school news media nonprofits were among 1,000 secondary school students who saw the play for free on 15 May thanks to the producer Seaview in partnership with the NYC Department of Education Arts Office. Clooney addressed the students after the play. (As we get them, we'll be adding more student and teacher reaction to the experience that could help inform your own viewing.)
George Clooney (left) is journalist Edward R. Murrow (at right) in the play based on the 2025 film of the same name. He and Grant Heslov wrote both.
Thanks to efforts around the 2005 film, teachers have some (mostly free) online resources to help students digest what they WILL see:
🌓 One of the best comes from Frank W. Baker, president of the USA- based Media Literacy Clearinghouse. Here is his collection: https://www.frankwbaker.com/mlc/good-night-and-good-luck-educational-resources/
🌓 NewseumED, also in the U.S.A. offers a free lesson plan. You need to join to get to the 8-minute video that covers Morrow’s career (crappy sound but has subtitles). https://newseumed.org/tools/lesson-plan/edward-r-murrow-video-lesson
🌓 Here’s free lesson plan from the The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) of the United States thanks to the Texas Association of Journalism Educators: https://www.taje.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/gngl_lesson1.pdf
🌓 Here are some USA resources you can download for a small price from Teachers Pay Teachers https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/browse?search=Good%20Night%20and%20Good%20Luck
🌓 From the United Kingdom a £3.80 downloadable resource from the digital education company TES: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/good-night-and-good-luck-movie-guide-journalism-media-pg-2005-12906672
🌓 From Australia, a lesson plan from the New South Wales (Australia) Department of Education - Click on Good Night and Good Luck. https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/english/english-curriculum-resources-k-12/english-11-12-resources/module-b-critical-study-of-literature-advanced
🌓 Et pour les francophones cette liste préparée par Suzanne Déglon Scholer, enseignante au gymnase, responsable de Promo-Film EcoleS et de la TRIBUne DES JEUNES CINEPHILES, Lausanne, janvier 2006. Actualisation par Christian Georges (CIIP) en juillet 2020: https://bdper.plandetudes.ch/uploads/ressources/3421/GoodNightandGoodLuck.pdf
📺 📺 📺 📺 Haul out your grandparents' poodle skirts, 🕵️♂️🕵️♀️ fedoras and whatever else you need 🧥👗👠to watch the play in 1950s style. Post to instagram #MorrowWatchParty #journalism #GoodNightAndGoodLuck #medialiteracy 📺 📺 📺
‼️‼️‼️ THERE'S MORE ‼️‼️‼️
🌓 Global Youth & News Media will again do our bit by recognizing excellence in teaching that journalism is a good thing to have around and that some who do that job face vicious harassment, jail or even death. And there's a surprise. https://www.globalyouthandnewsmediaprize.net/2025-media-literacy
🌓 And we have other study resources about the threats journalists face:https://www.globalyouthandnewsmediaprize.net/resource-threats-to-journalists
🌓 Without learning why we need journalists, students risk an inherent cynicism about their role.
So we and more than 40 other expert organizations and individuals have begun to push for those lessons to be included in basic media literacy education:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17kLdiI3gGuM8iTYw0eDLhE0nRqKHEQHdHGcP1x1d-8M/edit?usp=sharing
