Movies about journalism

Last week I wrote about the movie Spotlight.

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-movie-spotlight.html 

Watching it came from a desire to see examples of journalistic courage; so much of what we have seen lately in journalism seems more related to cowardice and greed. 

The list started with thinking about Spotlight (2015) and The Post (2017), then quickly grew to add Frost/Nixon (2008) and All the President's Men (1976). 

I then decided to add Network (1976), though I expected it to be about cynicism, not courage.

Without it being intentional, I believe I watched them in reverse release order. 

Spotlight was the one that affected me the most, which is a big part of why I wrote about it separately.

Coincidentally, all of the others were tied to Nixon. He was not the only president who was relevant to the story of the Pentagon Papers, but he was the one in office when the story broke. 

He was also the scariest one, as Bruce Greenwood as Robert McNamara makes clear in The Post.

Even in Network, the jaded cynicism, the fascination with terrorists, and the reported assassination attempts on Ford all feel like something that is the natural result of Nixon's presidency and the revelations that led to his resignation.

Of the movies, I really only recommend Spotlight and Frost/Nixon. 

The Post is not bad, but it doesn't feel as real and urgent as the other two modern ones. The concerns about going public, and the need for that, and how it might tie their hands should feel relevant now, but we seem to be more at the point where it's just quaint that they did care.

For the two films from 1976, I know they are both regarded as classics, but I can't say I enjoyed them. 

Of course, I was not actually watching for enjoyment, but I am not sure that I would recommend them either.

For Network, I have read some things about it, but maybe I read the wrong things. I was not prepared for how frail and vulnerable Peter Finch's Howard Beale was. I was expecting him to be angry and bitter, but what I saw was someone who had a breakdown and was ruthlessly exploited by people whose ambition and greed made them fine with murder. It hit much harder than I was expecting.

My more immediate frustration with the All the President's Men was the abrupt ending. They find out that Haldeman was not implicated during the Grand Jury proceedings because no questions were asked about him, which seems like a big deal, but then they just keep working on it and you know that various people get sentenced or resign through the end titles.

That indicates either that while the reporters were right, it was not their work that brought about the results, or that their work from that point on wasn't very interesting. It's kind of a letdown.

Maybe for people watching in 1976 it was easier to fill in the blanks.

The other thing that bothered me was the pushiness of the reporters, especially Bernstein, pushing and pushing on scared people who were saying "no". 

I understood that it was an important story. I also suspected that my feelings about Hoffman as an abusive person were probably coloring the performance. However, I had also seen examples of very caring, empathetic reporters on a very difficult story in Spotlight, so that also had an impact.

Maybe the issue with recent journalism hasn't been so much their lack of courage but their lack of caring and integrity.

Maybe it's the press we deserve if we keep accepting their shoddy, sensationalism that enables evil in the name of balance.

It was important that the Spotlight staff saw the humanity in the victims, and even at times in the abusers.

It is valuable to me that Frost saw Nixon's humanity, even though it was Nixon, and he also still nailed him.

It didn't give me any optimism about the state of journalism, but I saw two really good movies.