How can old-fashioned print media survive and be competitive in the revolution of new technology and media like Twitter, Internet bloggers and Wikileaks? It seems like everyday the obituary columns of newspapers are full of reports of the death of major American newspapers, and the ability of The New York Times to survive in these difficult economic times has been a source of much speculation over the years. Advertising revenue has collapsed, and major newspapers have gone bankrupt across the country. These are some of the issues explored in this fascinating and eye-opening documentary from Andrew Rossi (who co-produced Jehane Noujaim's Al Jazeera doco Control Room). Granted unprecedented access, Rossi and his film crew spent a year embedded in the offices of the venerable New York Times, observing the day to day operations of the newsroom, the editorial meetings, the retrenchments, and following a few journalists. One of the most colourful characters we meet is David Carr, a former crack addict, who is now a respected and outspoken media columnist for the paper. Rossi compares the Wikileaks site and its exposure of secret files with the paper's own achievements in publishing the infamous Pentagon papers three decades earlier. But he also questions the future of investigative journalism in this age of quick and immediate on-line blogging that mainly passes on snippets of gossip and rumour without the basic fact checking and verification of sources of newspapers. He draws a parallel with the Watergate affair and how intrepid reporters from the Washington Post brought down a President. The film charts the changing face of journalism, but argues that there is still a place for print media in this electronic age. Page One is a fairly balanced view, as Rossi also looks at some of the recent scandals that have tarnished the Times' reputation and damaged its credibility.
Page One
(2011)
interesting documentary about the changing face of news papers
9 June 2012
Warning: Spoilers