PAGE ONE: THE UNDERBELLY OF JOURNALISM

Tomas Hernandez

The New York Times, if anything, is a figurehead of journalism. If the Times is still printing papers then there still might be a chance for the newspaper industry. The film, Page One, was a portrayal of this. I found the film to be very refreshing. One cannot help but be intimidated by the field of journalism. In the film they even referred to the publication as a “fortress.” Page One gave the viewer an inside look on how the newspaper industry was handling a change in technology.

The film starts out with the Times talking to Wikileaks about their leakage of government footage and information. This event symbolized the transition from agencies giving the publication information, to individuals getting self-served information: blogging, tweeting, forums. They also self-reflect on the Judith Miller issue. This is when Judith Miller, writer for the NY Times, perpetuated the idea that there were WMD’s in Iraq. They then found out there were none. With the Wikileaks and the Miller case, published news is not as valuable of a source as it used to be. The film fluctuates; they take a look on the weakness of the newspaper industry, but also they gloat of the Times’ successes. For instance, “Taiwanese president needs the times to know if the world exists.” This, and other quotes such as “it’s the New York Times…” became a bit irritating. There was a small handful of journalists being interviewed; a notable name was David Carr. David Carr is an reporter for the NY Times as well as an ex crack addict. I liked to think of him as a dinosaur journalist. In the beginning of the film he hated the idea of new technology. He seemed arrogant about the fact he wrote for the Times, his quotes also seemed contrived. There was a point in which he was giving VICE a hard time about working with CBS. That’s when the line was crossed. However, as the film went on, Carr adjusts to new media, and the film overall gets closure. Carr is a symbol in this way.