Review of Page One: Inside the New York Times (2011) by Walter M — 25 Jun 2011

The insightful documentary "Page One: Inside The New York Times" makes a great case for the need for the continued existence of newspapers in providing news that the public needs, not wants, to hear, even as their survival has been increasingly endangered, with even the New York Times resorting to layoffs.(That having been said, I do like their online plan to charge after a certain amount of articles have been read.) This is viewed through the eyes of the media department of the newspaper with the Wikileaks story being of central interest where they work around Julian Assange's agenda in writing their articles. Part of that involves a video of American soldiers opening fire with two versions, each one revealing a different story. The newspaper later publishes many of the leaked cables much to the White House's chagrin, but cautious as to sensitive information.

As entertaining and analytical as they might be, blogs cannot compare in the information gathering department as they cannot afford to put people on the ground, either locally or internationally. Blogs also represent a singular point of view which works best if you agree with them.(The documentary also falls into this trap to a certain degree as it almost turns into the David Carr Show at times, although it should be admitted that he is quite a character with his own unique style of interviewing.) As imperfect as the New York Times is(I agree with the assessment that the Iraq War would have happened regardless of Judith Miller's articles), it is only as good as those people who make the editorial decisions on the newspaper to which the documentary is provided unqualified access to.