Good Night, and Good Luck

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Good Night, and Good Luck Goofs/Mistakes

Movie Goof (errors made by characters, possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Bill Paley says to Murrow: "I'm taking your program from a half an hour to an hour." In fact, the program went from an hour to a half hour.
Movie Goof (anachronisms): There is a plastic water bottle on the desk in the newsroom when Friendly, Wershba, and Murrow are standing around and talking.
Movie Goof (anachronisms): Mention is made of the hotline telephone between Moscow and Washington, but this was installed in 1963, five years after Murrow's speech and ten years after the bulk of the film. (Fidel Castro's revolution hadn't even occurred at the time the film is set).
Movie Goof (anachronisms): In several of the scenes with telephone conversations the phones being used were models not introduced until years later and at least twice the handsets use the detachable cord with the RJ-11 plug which was introduced by Bell in the 1970s.
Movie Goof (anachronisms): During Murrow's speech at the RNTDA Convention - the scene that bookends the film - the screen to his left reads: "A Salute to Edward R. Murrow - October 25, 1958". The script font used on the screen is Ballantines; this typeface was only designed 16 years later in 1974 (by Brendel Typestudio).
Movie Goof (anachronisms): The U.S. Air Force officers are shown wearing modern, brushed metal name tags. Air Force personnel did not wear name tags until the blue plastic ones were introduced in 1967. Also officers are not authorized silver chin straps on the service hat - only plain leather ones (even in 1954). These are used for ceremonial duties only.
Movie Goof (continuity error): In the middle of the film, when Wershba is with his wife in their house getting ready for work, he forgets his wedding ring and his wife has to remind him to take it, the top button of his shirt becomes buttoned and his tie is tied tighter by itself as he turns around to get his wedding ring. There wasn't enough time for him to button his shirt and tighten his tie.
Movie Goof (anachronisms): Murrow is shown giving his famous speech at the RNTDA Convention. The screen to his left shows the date as 25 October 1958 whereas the actual date of the speech was 15 October 1958.
Movie Goof (anachronisms): There is a three prong electrical outlet visible in the Wershbas' bathroom. It was not in common use until decades later.
Movie Goof (continuity error): Murrow's cigarette grows longer (while the ash gets shorter) during the meeting where Paley reschedules his show to Sundays.
Movie Goof (continuity error): In the opening sequence two shots show a twin-lens reflex camera being handed about. A moment later, a group photo is taken, presumably with the same camera) and a flash frame indicates the camera had a flash, but it didn't.
Movie Goof (incorrectly regarded as a mistake): It was originally thought by many viewers that the "CBS News" sign on the wall is set in Helvetica, a typeface which was first created in 1957, three years after the Joseph McCarthy (II) broadcast. Subsequent investigation by typographers established that the typeface is actually correct and is Akzidenz Grotesk.
Movie Goof (anachronisms): The piano shown behind jazz singer Dianne Reeves displays the "Steinway" logo on the side - it would not have been displayed on the side of models at that time.