1. Early in the film one of the characters laughingly talks about putting on a program called ‘The Death Hour.’ Can you give any modern examples of the sort of thing he was talking about?

- Cops

- Police files unlocked

- Border security

- The Force

2. While the station head does not want the Howard Beale incident to interfere with the stockholders meeting he also complains about the cost of the news division. Can you give a recent Australian example of where ‘news’ or ‘current affairs’ has been cut by a network.

Three Shows from the Nine Network:

- Nightline

- Sunday

- The Nation

3. What was the Symbionese Liberation Army mentioned in the film? Who was Patty Hearst?

The Symbionese Liberation Army was mentioned in the film because the group were involved in an infamous April 1974 Hibernia Bank robbery, San Francisco, which shows Patty Hearst, an American news heiress, socialite and occasional actress, was involved in the act with the other members of the Symbionese Liberation Army.

4. What does the Faye Dunaway character propose for a series?

She propose a series where someone takes footage of urban-terrorist, the Symbionese Liberation Army, robbing banks and the story goes on from there onwards.

5. ‘The news division produces the lowest return’ according to Robert Duvall’s character. ‘We’re running a news division not a circus,’ says Glen Ford. Explain the two points of view.

6. One of the characters says while laughing at Howard Beale’s rant, ‘I can’t help it, it’s funny.’ How does this encapsulate the dilemma.

7. ‘I think we’ve lucked onto something,’ says Faye Dunaway. What?

it means they’ve hit the target on getting more viewers and increase of ratings by using Howard Beale and people are tuning in to him.

8. Is there anyone NOW on radio and TV like Howard Beale?

Bill O’Reilly – The O’Reilly Factor

9. ‘TV is show business.’ Explain how we see examples of that nowadays.

10. ‘The tube is the gospel,’ says Howard. What does he mean?

Howard Beale mention “The tube is the gospel” because these days many people watch Television everyday and often they believe on what they see and hear on it.

11. ‘Television is not true.’ Is it?

12. Explain how ownership – especially by corporations can affect the news. Can you think of recent examples of this?