Tuesday, April 21st, 2009...9:21 pm
The journalistic lessons of ‘State of Play’
I went to see “State of Play” yesterday mainly because I’m a sucker for anything with Russell Crowe in it, and I love newspaper-themed movies. (Professional hazard, I guess.) I thoroughly enjoyed the movie despite its stereotypical and sensationalized depictions of journalism, but that’s not why I’m bringing it up. This isn’t a review.
I think the movie provides a good discussion point for some issues facing the news media today. Don’t worry. I won’t give away the story. Although if you hate knowing anything about a movie you intend to see, you may want to stop reading.
The part of the movie that captures my attention is a subplot depicting the tense relationship between bloggers and “traditional” journalists. In the movie, young bloggers work in the same building but beyond an invisible wall from the traditional journalists. The traditional newsroom looks crowded, dirty and tired, and the reporters use computers that my newspaper retired a decade ago. The online newsroom is like a clean room in comparison, and the computer equipment rocks, we’re told.
Russell Crowe plays the traditional journalist, a jaded, badly dressed, long-haired rebel with a bottle of Scotch in his desk and apparently no life outside the newsroom. Rachel McAdams is the newbie blogger, crisp, well-dressed and green. She asks him for help; he resists. They are leery of each other, but in the end they work together. The story they report ends up in print — before it makes it online. ”When people read this story, they should have newsprint on their hands,” explains McAdams’ character.
Here’s what I think we can learn from all this — if we can indeed learn from a fictional movie:
- The divide must end: This movie paints a clear print versus online scenario, which in the end works because the print wins. We must remember. This is a movie. Sure, many may wish the mighty rollling press shown in the movie will wipe out the big bad online world, but that’s not the reality. Online will win, and print will die or at least get even sicker, so the two sides need to work together. Us versus them is over. We must think of ourselves — print and online — as a we.
- No more two newsrooms: Some newspapers’ online operations are physically separate from their traditional newsrooms. Some have an invisible but nearly impenetrable wall, such as the one in the ”Washington Globe” of “State of Play.” Either way, the walls must come down. I’d advocate everyone in one building, working together. But even if that can’t happen physically, it must metaphorically. Every journalist should be an online journalist. There shouldn’t be print people and online folks in one news operation. Each one should have one name, journalist. It’s easier to understand the “other” group when you meet the individuals within the group. To do that, both sides must talk to each other.
- Investigative reporting cannot die: Now I won’t advocate some of the “reporting” methods used in the movie that were over the top in my mind. But I do applaud the movie’s depiction of journalists as skeptical, tenacious, and not easily duped. That’s a good lesson for bloggers, journalists — anyone trying to spread information in our evolving media world. The movie raised some serious ethical issues regarding relationships with sources that I won’t go into because I don’t want to give too much away. Suffice to say: It’s invaluable to journalists to know where to get information and have strong source relationships, but there is a limit that should not be crossed. However, the movie showed journalists’ contribution to society by exposing wrong. We need to keep doing that.
- We must be online first: In the movie, it was portrayed as a source of pride that the big story didn’t go online first. The newspaper waited till the reporter and blogger team had the full picture for the print. It worked in the movie, but in reality, we can’t do that. I’m not advocating printing rumors or unsubstantiated information. Journalists neede to be accurate and careful and well-sourced. But to hold a story the magnitude of the one in “State of Play” for the next day’s edition, rather that blow it out online — that just won’t work in today’s world.
I’d love to hear what you think.
I'm Gina Masullo Chen, a 20-year veteran newspaper journalist who is a Ph.D. candidate in mass communications. I want to see journalism survive. I believe news organizations need to embrace new media, change their thinking, improve their content and innovate. Read more about me 
21 Comments
April 21st, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Would you say that this movie fulfills the first part of one of my 2009 predictions at News After Newspapers? The prediction was:
“A major motion picture or HBO series featuring a journalism theme (perhaps a blogger involved in saving the world from nefarious schemes) will generate renewed interest in journalism as a career.”
(If the first part is true we’ll have to see whether it generates renewed interest in journalism as a career.)
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:41 am
I work for a major legal publisher. We realized very early that our online presence would soon be far more important than our print presence: that realization not only kept our company alive, it’s kept us profitable. We still produce fine print publications, but the fact is simple: those who deny the dominance of online publishing are dinosaurs, and dinosaurs are synonymous with extinction. The fact that Russell Crowe’s character was even allowed to use an outmoded word-processing program was silly: those files have to go straight to press, and no publisher would keep translator programs on hand in order to accommodate some staff-Luddite’s preferences. (As far as THAT goes, in a corporate setting, when one person gets a new computer, EVERYONE gets a new computer. Dell and HP have contracts to maintain, y’ know.) I found the “print versus online” angle of the new “State of Play” clumsy at best: if film-Cal were half the reporter TV-Cal was (instead of simply being three times larger than TV-Cal), he’d know to use the best tools he had available, from the speed of a new machine with efficient new software to the zip-bang-scoopability of online posting. We in the modern publishing world tally our speed victories in terms of minutes, not hours. Russell Crowe’s Cal would be left standing, jobless, in the dust of extinction. The character might have worked as a one-time journalist called back to help on a story involving his friend in politics; as a supposedly active journalist, he’s a plodding joke.
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Hi Gina, great post! I can’t wait to see this movie!
I think new news operations that start out with the Web or as Web only really have an advantage here. Newsroom cultures die hard and can be very difficult to change.
I agree with your point about accuracy. Verifying information and building a news brand that is reliable is what will separate journalism from other people who generate online content.
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I’m really looking forward to see this movie ever since I saw the trailer on TV (you can watch it at http://displacedbrett.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/state-of-play/)
Hate Affleck, but I think this might actually be a good role for him. Russell Crowe almost always delivers. Also, the trailer has a great song, “Unstoppable” by Minutes Til Midnight that does a great job of setting the mood. So yah, personally I’m way excited for this film.
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:22 pm
[...] The journalistic lessons of ‘State of Play’ [...]
April 22nd, 2009 at 7:59 pm
@Martin Langeveld –
I wish I could say this movie fulfills your prediction, but I’m not sure this is the movie to do that.
The blogger didn’t triumph. The traditional journalist did by converting the blogger to his viewpoint.
We’ll have to see if it sparks interest in journalism.
– Gina
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:01 pm
@brett –
Yeah, can’t stand Affleck either, and he wasn’t good in this IMHO. Love Crowe in anything.
Give us a report once you see the movie.
– Gina
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:06 pm
@Nemo –
Few things.
1. I definitely have to see the BBC series the movie is based on. Sounds great. Sounds better than the movie.
2. As far as Crowe’s character not realizing the benefits of the Web, you’re right on. He didn’t. That’s lame. That’s beyond lame. Sad thing is, that part was realistic to me. I work in a newsroom. I know a lot of journalists at other newspapers, and that refusal to see the value of publishing online and quickly is all too pervasive. There is a lot of fear and suspicion of the Web in newsrooms, both from the rank and file and the higher ups.
And you’re right, that attitude leads to extinction.
– Gina
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Movies take such liberties with the newspaper industry and computers both, and probably with all occupations. The well-versed can roll their eyes or sit back and go along with the tale.
One of the more accurate movies about newspapers was “The Paper,” made by Ron Howard, and it would be interesting if something like that was made about reporters, papers and online in these times.
As far as print and online working together, the mood has shifted back and forth. I remember when it was just an experiment in the newsrooms. As online gained a little ground, the feeling was that it should become a separate operation to see it could pay for itself. Many newspapers created a whole new division within their companies. Let Web people run the Web site. For many years there was a big divide, which didn’t make it easy for newspaper journalists to figure out how to get going in online journalism.
Now there’s a move toward converging again, when it makes sense not to duplicate effort. But the online staff might feel like they’re taken over by those old newspaper types and not treated like real journalists. And the newspaper journalists feel like they’ll be treated like dinosaurs, when they’re responsible for much of the content.
Even organizations that do good work can have these sibling rivalries. But open minds can usually work out the differences.
April 24th, 2009 at 10:40 am
[...] Chen from Save the Media jots her thoughts on journalism as portrayed in the new film, “State of [...]
April 25th, 2009 at 10:27 am
@Brian Cubbison –
Sorry for the delay in responding. As you know, my site was down a bit.
Totally agree. I think “open minds” are the key here. Hopefully, they will rule the day, not closed thinking.
– Gina
May 1st, 2009 at 10:57 am
[...] makes a strong case for the importance of investigative journalism, according to Gina Chen of Save the Media. I won’t advocate some of the “reporting” methods used in the movie that were over the top in [...]
May 3rd, 2009 at 11:03 pm
[...] que se junta a uma blogueira (atriz Rachel McAdams) para investigar um caso de assassinato (segundo críticas publicadas, o filme explora bastante as diferenças entre esses dois “tipos” de [...]
May 4th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
[...] que se junta a uma blogueira (atriz Rachel McAdams) para investigar um caso de assassinato (segundo críticas publicadas, o filme explora bastante as diferenças entre esses dois “tipos” de [...]
May 4th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Update: Saw the movie over the weekend…and although I thought Russell Crowe did a fine job (as expected) it was Jason Bateman that stole the show. He doesn’t have a huge role, but his character, Dominic Foy, is definitely the most intriguing aspect of this film. Though the script overall doesn’t have as much of the wit and humor that the mini-series had, Bateman’s leather-clad, Oxy-addicted, larger-than-life version of Foy strikes a nice balance of darkness and humor to counteract the sometimes overly serious tone of the film.
I kind of get the feeling that this movie should’ve been made a few years ago, and that the point it’s making might have come too late…like if this was released in ’05 it’s impact might be greater. Who knows, maybe I’m way off, but that’s my instinctual feeling.
May 5th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
[...] que se junta a uma blogueira (atriz Rachel McAdams) para investigar um caso de assassinato (segundo críticas publicadas, o filme explora bastante as diferenças entre esses dois “tipos” de [...]
May 18th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
I’m definitely bookmarking this site. Really great articles. Do you recommend any other readings?
May 19th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
@brett -
I tend to think you’re right about the timing of the movie. Would have made more sense in 2005. But then again, it would have made a lot more sense for a lot of things to have happened in 2005 in the news biz instead of now.
– Gina
February 25th, 2010 at 3:41 am
[...] Journalists are important and shouldn’t be replaced by bloggers or “citizen journalists” because quality and accuracy are far more important than quantity when it comes to news, however newspapers and other traditional news outlets are currently going out of business at an alarming rate as advertisers stop buying ads in the paper in favor of ads on the Internet. The only solution for the newspapers is to follow, and many already are, the advertisers onto the Internet. All most all newspapers already have a website with stories on it but the online stories are generally of a far lower quality than their paper publications. that needs to change. papers need to work to bring their online and paper publications together. [...]
June 15th, 2010 at 7:04 am
Thank you for your help!
January 13th, 2011 at 11:02 pm
Im a Crowe fan too
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