16 Movies for Journalists, the Follow Up

Last June, I was facing a potential boring Sunday evening. So I twittered whether anyone knew an inspiring, rock ‘n’ rollish or just tough journalism movie. Man, I received a whole lotta great tips from my fellow twitter users. As a blogger at a newspaper, I loved the blogger-versus-journalists references in State of Play, dreamed of an All the President’s Men scenario and sang along with Tiny Dancer when watching Almost Famous. After collecting the movie tips, I compiled a list on the very blog you’re looking at. The result: now also blog readers were sending in tips. It would be a waste not to include them in a second list, so, well, here you go. 16 movies for journalists, the follow up (Part one here). Oh and if you know a movie that isn’t featured in the two lists, don’t hesitate to comment!

(In random order, descriptions by IMDB & trailers from YouTube)

The Hunting Party (2007)

How can they find the world’s most wanted war criminal when the C.I.A. can’t? [by actually looking]

A young journalist, a seasoned cameraman and a discredited war correspondent embark on an unauthorized mission to find the no. 1 war criminal in Bosnia; they find themselves in serious jeopardy when they are mistaken as a CIA hit squad and their target decides to come after them. (7.0 on imdb).
Suggested by Antonie

Harrison’s Flowers (2000)

Sometimes love is the only proof you need.

When a Newsweek photojournalist disappears in war-torn Yugoslavia, his wife travels to Europe to find him. (7.2 on imdb).
Suggested by Alec

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Meet New James Bond

James Bond heads to stop a media mogul’s plan to induce war between China and the UK in order to obtain exclusive global media coverage. (6.4 on imdb).
Suggested by Lorenz

Nothing But the Truth (2008)

Don’t Reveal the Source

In Washington, D.C., a female reporter faces a possible jail sentence for outing a CIA agent and refusing to reveal her source. (7.5 on imdb).
Suggested by Claire

His Girl Friday (1940)

She learned about men from him!

A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying. (8.1 on imdb).
Suggested by Boy van Dijk

Brüno (2009)

Borat was so 2006

Flamboyant Austrian fashionista Brüno takes his show to America. (6.7 on imdb).
Suggested by Thomas

The Constant Gardener (2005)

Love. At any cost.

A widower is determined to get to the bottom of a potentially explosive secret involving his wife’s murder, big business, and corporate corruption. (7.6 on imdb).
Suggested by eyewhypee

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

His news is bigger than your news

Ron Burgundy is San Diego’s top rated newsman in the male dominated broadcasting of the 1970’s, but that’s all about to change when a new female employee with ambition to burn arrives in his office. (7.0 on imdb).
Suggested by Zoe

Salvador (1986)

Based on a true story

A journalist, down on his luck in the US, drives to El Salvador to chronicle the events of the 1980 military dictatorship, including the assasination of Archbishop Oscar Romero. (7.5 on imdb).
Suggested by Peter

Zodiac (2007)

There’s more than one way to lose your life to a killer

A San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac killer. (7.9 on imdb).
Suggested by joscha & kamisir

La Dolce Vita (1960)

The Sweet Life

Journalist and man-about-town Marcello struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome’s elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer. (8.1 on imdb).
Suggested by joscha

Under Fire (1983)

This wasn’t their war but it was their story…and they wouldn’t let it go!

Three journalists in a romantic triangle are involved in political intrigue during the last days of the corrupt Somozoa regime in Nicaragua before it falls to a popular revolution in 1979. (7.0 on imdb)
Suggested by Michiel Frackers

The Pelican Brief (1983)

Two Supreme Court Justices have been assassinated. One lone law student has stumbled upon the truth. An investigative journalist wants her story. Everybody else wants her dead. Two Supreme Court Justices have been assassinated. One lone law student has stumbled upon the truth.

An investigative journalist wants her story. Everybody else wants her dead. (6.3 on imdb)
Suggested by Renato Valdés Olmos

Män som hatar kvinnor (2009)

Swedish thriller based on Stieg Larsson’s novel about a journalist and a young female hacker. (7.6 on imdb)
Suggested by Pawelotti

Network (1976)

Not since the dawn of time has America experienced a man like Howard Beale!

A TV network cynically exploits a deranged ex-TV anchor’s ravings and revelations about the media for their own profit (8.1 on imdb).
Suggested by davidus

Lions for Lambs (2007)

If you don’t STAND for something, you might FALL for anything

Injuries sustained by two Army ranger behind enemy lines in Afghanistan set off a sequence of events involving a congressman, a journalist and a professor (6.2 on imdb)
Suggested by Peter Engel

Some other posts you might be interested in:

• 24 must-see movies for journalists (and 3 series)
• Bloggers should ‘drag’ journalists into the eye of the storm
• New category, Article of the Day: skills for journalists