Page One: Inside The New York Times

Movie: Page One: Inside The New York Times

Genre: documentary

Synopsis: This was a fascinating movie.  Without any narration, cameras spent a year inside the New York Times, chronicling how the newspaper is dealing with the tremendous changes being forced on printed news media by the internet. You get to follow around the editor-in-chief and department heads.  The largest part of the movie is devoted to a reporter by the name of David Carr.  David was working on a huge story about the demise of The Tribune Company – owners of The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, among other papers.  There is extensive discussion about the role of printed media in today’s online environment.  About why pay for something that is free on the web?

My two cents: A great movie.  I am a long-time fan of newspapers.  It saddens me to see my daily newspaper getting smaller and smaller.  The Sunday paper is now the size that the weekday paper used to be.  Arguments are made by the web-fans, but nothing convinces me that we do not absolutely need to keep our daily newspapers in business.  Anyone with an interest in news, media, or the impact of the web on printed media will enjoy this documentary.

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