The Newspaperman (2017)

The Newspaperman is a documentary film about the life and times of Ben Bradlee, who was for many years the editor of the Washington Post. Here is some basic information about this film which premiered in 2017:

** Director: John Maggio

** Narrator: Ben Bradlee

** Run time: 90 minutes

As stated above, this film is about the life of Ben Bradley (1921-2014), who was the editor of the Washington Post for more than twenty years (1968-1991). It is based on his autobiography A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures (hardcover 1995, paperback 2017).

In the film, he is the narrator: he is reading short passages from his autobiography. Several other people are interviewed in the film. Here are their names in alphabetical order:

** Carl Bernstein

** Tom Brokaw

** Jim Lehrer

** Sally Quinn

** Bob Woodward

Among the many interesting cases mentioned in the film, two stand out, because the first one represents the high point of his career, and the second one represents the low point of his career.

# 1. The high point of his career is the time when Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward investigated the break-in at Watergate and its ramifications. The investigation led them to the White House and to President Richard Nixon. The time was 1972-1974.

Week after week, the paper published stories about Watergate written by Bernstein and Woodward, even though most other media ignored the story, believing that there was nothing in it.

# 2. The low point in his career is the case of Janet Cooke, who was a reporter at the Washington Post. In 1980 she wrote a major story that was published in the paper. In 1981 her story won a Pulitzer Prize.

At first, it was a great honour for her and for the paper, but soon things began to change. Shortly after the announcement, it was discovered that the story was a fabrication, a product of the writer’s imagination!

This was a scandal in the media world. An embarrassment for the paper. How could this happen? How could the editor allow a false story to be printed? And how could a false story win a Pulitzer Prize?

What do reviewers say about this film? Here are the results of three review aggregators:

** 72 per cent = IMDb

** 80 per cent = Metacritic

** 94 per cent = Rotten Tomatoes

As you can see, the average ratings are quite good, quite high. But if you ask me, they are not high enough. I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars.

PS. For more information about the US media and the US government, see the following items:

** Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press (1996) (110 minutes). This film about George Seldes (1890-1995) is not available on Amazon UK.

** All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I. F. Stone (2016) (88 minutes). This film about I. F. Stone (1907-1989) is available on Amazon Prime Video.

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 The cover of Ben Bradlee's autobiography:

A Good Life (1995, 2017)

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