This article aims to explain how newspapers commented on the movie Good Night, and Good Luck
before its release. The media coverage anticipated George Clooney's film as a partisan attack
launched against George W. Bush's policy since 9/11. Clooney advocates another reading: the historic
confrontation between journalist Edward Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarty permits to reflect on
the crucial role that the media play for democracy. Such reflection tries to prevent the dividing of the
public sphere into antagonistic camps opposing "friends" to "foes," a division that undermines the
possibility of a true pluralism. Our socio-semiotic analysis will focus on the critical work accomplished
by the media, and on the way that work determines the collective meaning of a cultural object.
Simultaneously, we will discuss the necessary conditions for pluralism in a public sphere.