24 must-see movies for journalists (and 3 series)
21 June 2009For those of you who don’t know me: I’m a blogger at a Dutch quality newspaper. Last week I went to see State of Play, a movie about a grumpy old reporter who investigates a billion dollar scandal. He gets some help from a newspaper blogger. The funny situations – ‘I don’t have an opinion, maybe I should read some blogs’ – and the ‘damn fine reporting’ inspired me. They made me realize why I’ve chosen to become a journalist and gave me more energy.
That’s why I asked on Twitter (I’m @dutchproblogger) which journalism movies my Twitter contacts liked. They came up with a great list, which I happily share here. So next time you’re wondering which movie to see, get inspired by these great journalism movies.
(In random order, descriptions by IMDB & trailers from YouTube)
All The President’s Men (1976)
At times it looked like it might cost them their jobs, their reputations, and maybe even their lives.
Reporters Woodward and Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Nixon’s resignation (8.0 on imdb).
I started the discussion with this movie.
Shattered Glass (2003)
Read between the lies.
The true story of a young journalist who fell from grace when it was found he had fabricated over half of his articles (7.5 on imdb).
Suggestion by Arjo & Jan-Albert Hootsen
Parallax View (1974)
There is no conspiracy. Just twelve people dead.
An ambitious reporter gets in way-over-his-head trouble while investigating a senator’s assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the worlds headlines (7.4 on imdb).
Suggestion by Albert Nijmeijer
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
MYSTERY IN WHISPERS that cracks like THUNDER!
On the eve of WW2, a young American reporter tries to expose enemy agents in London (7.7 on imdb).
Suggestion by Albert Nijmeijer
Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
A Love Caught In The Fire Of Revolution
A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer (7.0 on imdb).
Suggestion by Albert Nijmeijer
Killing Fields (1984)
He was a reporter for the New York Times whose coverage of the Cambodian War would win him a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. But the friend who made it possible was half the world away with his life in great danger… This is the story of war and friendship, the anguish of a country and of one man’s will to live.
A photographer is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot’s bloody “Year Zero” cleansing campaign, which claimed the lives of two million “undesirable” civilians (8.0 on imdb).
Suggestion by Albert Nijmeijer
Professione: reporter (1975)
I used to be somebody else…but I traded myself in.
A frustrated war correspondent, unable to find the war he’s been asked to cover, takes the risky path of co-opting the I.D. of a dead arms dealer acquaintance (7.7 on imdb).
Suggestion by Albert Nijmeijer
Citizen Kane (1941)
365 days in the making – and every minute of it an exciting NEW thrill for you !
Following the death of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final utterance (8.6 on imdb).
Suggestion by Albert Nijmeijer & Jan-Albert Hootsen
The Insider (1999)
Warning: Exposing the Truth May Be Hazardous
A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a “60 Minutes” expose on Big Tobacco (8.0 on imdb).
Suggestion by Jan-Albert Hootsen
Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)
We will not walk in fear of one another.
Broadcast journalist ‘Edward R. Murrow (I)’ looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy (7.7 on imdb).
Suggestion by Arjo
Infamous (2006)
There’s more to the story than you know
While researching his book In Cold Blood, writer Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith (7.2 on imdb).
Suggestion by Arjo
Control Room (2004)
Different channels. Different truths.
A documentary on perception of the United States’s war with Iraq, with an emphasis on Al Jazeera’s coverage (7.8 on imdb).
Suggestion by Arjo
Runaway Jury (2003)
Trials are too important to be decided by juries.
A juror on the inside and a woman on the outside manipulate a court trial involving a major gun manufacturer (7.1 on imdb).
Suggestion by Steven van Vessum
Charlie Wilson’s War
Based on a true story. You think we could make all this up?
A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson’s covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects (7.4 on imdb).
Suggestion by Steven van Vessum
Final Edition (2007)
After 149 years and 311 days, the Rocky Mountain News published its final edition on February 27, 2009.
Read the story on the website of The Rocky Mountain News. Below is the whole (!) movie.
Suggestion by Joris van Meel
http://www.vimeo.com/3390739
Wag the Dog (1997)
A Hollywood producer. A Washington spin-doctor. When they get together, they can make you believe anything.
Before elections, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to “fabricate” a war in order to cover-up a presidential sex scandal (7.0 on imdb).
Suggestion by @jack_nl
Frost/ Nixon (2008)
400 million people were waiting for the truth.
A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon (8.0 on imdb).
Suggestion by: Jelte Nieuwenhuis & David Noël
A Mighty Heart (2007)
It was an event that shocked the world. This is the story you haven’t heard.
Mariane Pearl embarks on a frantic search to locate her journalist husband, Daniel, when he goes missing in Pakistan (6.8 on imdb).
Suggestion by Jan-Albert Hootsen
État de Siège (1972)
A film about a journalist’s inquiry into the Uruguayan junta
In Uruguay in the early 1970s, an official of the US Agency for International Development (a group used as a front for training foreign police in counterinsurgency methods) is kidnapped by a group of urban guerillas (7.7 on imdb).
Suggestion by Jan-Albert Hootsen
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Give us your brain for two hours and you will never be the same again…..(Icelandic)
An oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychadelic escapades (7.6 on imdb).
Suggestion by Henriëtte Klijnstra & Arjo
Syriana (2005)
Everything is connected
A politically-charged epic about the state of the oil industry in the hands of those personally involved and affected by it (7.1 on imdb).
Suggestion by David Veneman
Capote (2005)
Truman Capote (Hoffman), during his research for his book In Cold Blood, an account of the murder of a Kansas family, the writer develops a close relationship with Perry Smith, one of the killers (7.6 on imdb).
Suggestion by Jan-Albert Hootsen & Arjo
State of Play (2009)
Find The Truth
A team of investigative reporters work alongside a police detective to try to solve the murder of a congressman’s mistress (7.6 on imdb).
This movie gave me the idea of making this list
Almost famous (2000)
Experience it. Enjoy it. Just don’t fall for it.
A high-school boy is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone Magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies it on their concert tour (8.0 on imdb).
Suggestion by Albert Nijmeijer
And some series
The Wire, season 5 (2007)
Read between the lines
Baltimore drug scene, seen through the eyes of drug dealers, and law enforcement (9.7 on imdb).
Suggested by Alper Çuğun: ‘In season 5 the focus is on the inner workings and cutbacks at the Baltimore Sun.’
State of Play (2003)
Sometimes you have to read between the lines
A thriller set in London, in which a politician’s life becomes increasingly complex as his research assistant is found dead on the London Underground and, in a seemingly unrelated incident, a teenage drug dealer is shot dead (8.7 on imdb).
Suggested by Tijs Teulings
Live from Baghdad (2002)
The Gulf War, 1991. No story is worth dying for – but this was the story of a lifetime
A group of CNN reporters wrestle with journalistic ethics and the life-and-death perils of reporting during the Gulf War (7.3 on imdb).
Suggested by Jan-Albert Hootsen
Missing a great journalism movie here? Drop a line in the comments!
Some other posts you might be interested in:
Can't get enough of the Dutch problogger?
Did you find this post inspiring or useful? Subscribe to my RSS like 898 others did and receive original and daring blog tips right there in your reader. You can also get an email alert whenever I post something new.
Categorie: blog inspiration
Tags: bloggers, inspiration, journalism, newspaper, twitter, video
Nice list. I think ‘The Hunting Party’ with Richard Gere could also fit nicely in your list.
Nice list! I put some of those movies on my “to watch” list :)
Thanks for the shout, EJ.
Maybe you’d like to add The West Wing to the series. Fantastic tv series about the life in the White House and highly realistic according to critics. The press Secretary and staff play a major role in the series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_West_Wing
You forgot perhaps one of the most important journalism movies of all time – “All the president’s men”.
Don’t worry Jaap, I didn’t. It’s right there, first movie. It’s actually the one I mentioned in the tweet that started this post: http://twitter.com/dutchproblo.....2264525950
What about Harrison’s Flowers? Great movie about a woman trying to find her missing husband during the war in Bosnia. She travels with a group of war correspondents.
I would recommend a Canadian series called “ENG” (for “electronic news gathering”) that originally aired from 1989 to 1994 (and showed up on some U.S. cable systems earlier this decade). The show is set at news operation somewhat like CNN (but unbelievably smaller, in the way that Seattle Grace Hospital in “Grey’s Anatomy” weirdly has only about 10 doctors). Features, as a pompous anchor, Tim Matheson, who later played Vice President John Hoynes on “The West Wing.”
Great list, I’m a hack and a movie-lover and still there are quite a few films on your list that I hadn’t even heard of.
But you didn’t include ‘Anchor Man’. True, it probably won’t inspire you (unless you’re a raging egomaniac) but having worked in network news I think it gives a pretty good insight…
What about James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies?
It follows Bond as he tries to stop a media mogul from engineering world events and starting World War III. The movie shows us the dangers of media concentration. There’s a big reference to Rupert Murdoch.
Thanks for all the suggestions guys! I guess I’ll have to make a second post with new trailers :-)
What about Bruno? The gay fashion reporter…….. :D
Check also: http://www.imdb.com/keyword/tv-reporter/
http://www.imdb.com/keyword/reporter/
http://www.imdb.com/keyword/journalist/
How could I forget that one? :-)
In the same category as Syriana: ‘The Constant Gardener’. Diplomat’s wife and leftist activist (Rachel Weisz) tries to uncover the truth behind a big multinational’s drug trials in Kenya. It’s journalism meets NGO world meets diplomacy meets dirty business. I’m sure you’ve seen it!
Missing: Nothing but the truth, based on the Judy Miller case.
De film Salvador met James Woods over de burgeroorlog in El Salvador.
Maybe I’m a bit of a snob but I really expected you to have La Dolce Vita on this list! (It’s the origin of the paparazzi!)
How could I’ve forget that one?!?! I’ve mentioned it a couple of times in blog posts, whenever I mentioned paparazzi, I mentioned Dolce Vita:
Article on The Next Web about a Israeli start-up that wants to help celebs getting rid of paparazzi
Dutch article about Asthon Kutcher filming some paparazzi with his camera phone
Thanks for the suggestion Joscha!
O ja, Zodiac van David Fincher mag ook niet ontbreken. Superman en Spiderman werken trwns ook allebei voor een krant ;)
May be “Mad City” with Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta.
Very good post, my friend.
Bye!
What about His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)?
Oops, never mind, it’s in the follow up…