Journalism films run the gamut from Oscar winners (‘Spotlight’) to comedies (‘Anchorman’)
The film industry has a long-standing interest in depicting the struggles of television and newspaper reporters. Over the years, there have been many great films whose main characters were journalists. The following list covers a range of years and genres, but all the movies have one thing in common: journalism.
Spotlight (2015): Not only is this a true story, it’s an unembellished true story. It’s a story so invigorating, horrifying and heroic that it needs no exaggeration. The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team – an elite group of investigative journalists – uncover a history of sexual abuse and elaborate cover-ups in the local Catholic Archdiocese. The script and storytelling seamlessly convey a huge amount of information, fitting a year’s worth of life-consuming journalism into a thrilling feature-length film. Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams star in this Oscar-winning tour de force.
The Post (2017): Freedom of the press, government secrets, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks; this movie is a recipe for brilliance. The true story of the Washington Post’s publication of the Pentagon Papers is one central to our nation’s stance on the role of the media, a role that has come under fire in recent years. “The Post” follows the first woman editor of a major American newspaper and her decision to, risking indictment for contempt, publish covered-up documents about the Vietnam War. Streep and Hanks are at their best, especially together, in this tense tussle between media and government.
Citizen Kane (1941): One of the most unanimously praised films ever made, Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” is the story of media tycoon Charles Foster Kane and his rise to and subsequent decline from greatness. Kane is a man of incredible wealth whose inability to love devours his life until he dies alone in his grand estate with the mysterious last word “Rosebud.” The story is framed as, following Kane’s death, reporters scramble to find meaning in this mysterious final word. From a cinematographic perspective, the movie is immersive and deliberately disorienting; the shots tell as much story as the dialogue.
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004): A top-rated news anchor finds his world turned upside down when an ambitious woman is hired in his male-dominated news station. Will Ferrell is at his most hilarious in this immature but brilliant comedy featuring the likes of Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and Christina Applegate. The jokes are ridiculous, which is to be expected with Farrell, but in this movie, they land with stellar smoothness, driving the audience to give in to the crazy humor.
All the President’s Men (1976): Just two years after the Watergate scandal and President Nixon’s resignation, Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford and Jack Warden starred in “All the President’s Men,” which recounts the story of the two young journalists who exposed Watergate. The movie is enthralling and suspenseful, which is even more engaging because of its true basis. It shows the heroic and risky side of investigative journalism, especially – as is the theme with many of these journalism films – as it involves the upper echelons of government. The movie, which won four Oscars, is a lesson in precise filmmaking and great journalism.
The Interview (2014): Tabloid-TV host Dave Skylark (James Franco) is invited for an interview with a famous fan: Kim Jong-un (Randall Park). The location? North Korea. Granted access to an impenetrable nation, Skylark and his producer Aaron Rapaport (Seth Rogan) are scooped up by the CIA to assassinate the North Korean dictator and liberate the country. In this action-packed comedy, Rogan and Franco follow joke and quip with wisecrack, turning what should have been a serious assassination mission into a vaguely journalism-oriented comedy. Skylark explores the “true” character of Kim Jong-un, at least for a moment believing that he might just be misunderstood.
The Killing Fields (1984): War through the eyes of a foreign journalist is difficult to convey. “The Killing Fields” follows the true story of New York Times correspondent Sydney Schanberg and his Cambodian interpreter and fellow journalist Dith Pran as they report on and navigate the landscape of the Cambodian civil war. The two form a strong bond as they pursue truth in the face of immense violence and personal trials. Their story is at once epic and profoundly human, and the film’s three Oscars included one for Haing S. Ngor’s portrayl of Pran.
Rosewater (2014): For his directorial debut, Jon Stewart adapts the true story of Maziar Bahari’s 118-day imprisonment and torture in Iran during the 2009 elections. Bahari, a journalist for Newsweek, had recently appeared on “The Daily Show,” and the tape of his interview was used as evidence indicating he was an American spy. The movie, adapted from Bahari’s autobiographical novel “Then They Came for Me,” is a story of persistence in the face of cruelty.
Absence of Malice (1981): The dark underside of journalism-gone-wrong is the root of this 1981 film starring Sally Field and Paul Newman. A young reporter with high aspirations bases a harsh article on unverified information left for her to see by an FBI investigator. She connects a local business owner with family in the mob to an ongoing murder investigation and in so doing causes a destructive unfolding. Dramatic and morally concerned, this film forms an interesting counterpart to the other movies’ heroic depiction of journalism.
State of Play (2009): Politics, assassinations, cover-ups and gallant journalism all collide in Kevin Macdonald’s “State of Play.” A thief is killed in an alleyway, and a congressman’s assistant dies in a subway, which to anyone might seem like two unrelated incidents, but to stubborn reporter Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe), this points to something greater. His investigations alongside colleague Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) lead to a deeply rooted conspiracy, the pursuit of which threatens his life and livelihood.
Network (1976): Anchor Howard Beale (Peter Finch), fired by the network as his ratings have bottomed, announces on live television that he will commit suicide, and an absurdist satire of the American television industry ensues. “Network” follows a TV network as it uses the mental deterioration of its declining news anchor to improve ratings. This film shines in the brilliant portrayals by its lead actors, Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch and William Holden. It won four Oscars.
Broadcast News (1987): Young news producer Jane Craig (Holly Hunter) develops a romantic relationship with new, mostly skill-less anchor Tom Grunick (William Hurt), leaving Aaron Altman (Albert Brooks), a talented correspondent with eyes for Jane, frustrated. Craig ends up caught between the attractive, charismatic but unintelligent Tom and the compassionate, talented Aaron. The tele-journalism world of the 1980s functions as a stellar backdrop.
The Paper (1994): Michael Keaton is a frenetic tabloid journalist caught between family, work and a job offer. Frantically paced, this Ron Howard film rolls the audience up into its momentum and doesn’t for a minute let go. With true-to-life newsroom moments, this slice-of-life is packed full of journalism, family drama, comedy and more.
Never Been Kissed (1999): By a large margin the least realistic depiction of journalism on this list (a copy editor with her own office and an assistant?), “Never Been Kissed” is “21 Jump Street” meets “Mean Girls.” Drew Barrymore is the young copy editor sent back to high school for an undercover job. The only issue is that in high school, she was severely unpopular, a total geek, and now she has to infiltrate the popular clique. Comedy and romance ensue.