The storyline for Good Night, and Good Luck comes from the historical broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow investigating the effects of McCarthyism. Screenwriters George Clooney and Grant Heslov took much of the script from the transcripts of the broadcasts, picking which parts would relate best to the political environment of the Bush administration. For the dialogue and other parts of the script, Clooney and Heslov referenced parts of both Fred Friendly’s memoir, Due to Circumstances Beyond our Control (New York: Random House, 1967) and The Joseph and Shirley Wershba Papers at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as fabricating some of the discussions. The film is historically accurate regarding the news broadcasts, but some of the other events are time-warped. Furthermore, the film erroneously implies that Murrow was the sole journalist who criticized McCarthy and was responsible for his downfall. Instead, he was a very courageous journalist who took television broadcasting to a new level by persuading American citizens to stand up for their rights.