Today, instead of going to a regular JOUR1111 lecture, we were treated to a screening of the film Page One - Inside the New York Times. I wasn't quite sure what to expect; but the documentary definitely exceeded any expectations. This was partly because it really summed up what we have been doing in the lectures all semester and put it right into a real-world perspective. Changes in the media landscape, traditional news outlets struggling, "prod-users", Wikileaks, Twitter...check. But what I personally loved about the film was that it allows the viewer to get an exclusive sneak peek behind the scenes of the newspaper phenomenon that is the New York Times. I would be lying if I said it wasn't a childhood dream of mine to work there some day. Sadly, this dream is probably more unreachable than ever before in these, for newspapers, exceptionally hard times. The job of the stereotypical newspaper journalist that I had in mind as a child might not exist anymore in a few years time - the film very well shows the struggles that a newspaper faces in today's media landscape.
The film is very colourful in the way that it introduces the reader to charismatic and intriguing Times journalists: the former crack addict with an amazing sense of humor (and presumably an incredibly high IQ); the technology whiz-kid who's working on 3 computers, an iPad and an iPhone at the same time and the handsome, very young reporter who went to Iraq to become a war correspondent (and subsequently the Baghdad bureau chief of the New York Times).
The film certainly gives a good perspective on how media works today, but it also gives some great insights into how newspapers like the New York Times have been paramount for democratic societies and their functioning in the past and leaves you wondering about who is going to do that job if the traditional newspaper really is dying.
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