Review of Page One: Inside the New York Times (2011) by Tr J — 06 May 2016

This documentary is not broadly about being "Inside the New York Times," but instead is much more narrowly focused on the dilemma of current newspapers as they try to survive in an era of internet coverage that has largely supplanted the papers in the public mind.

It's a weak documentary, skipping around in its focus on a handful of key figures at the Times in 2010, trying to make a case for the traditional newspaper journalism while occasionally following the staff's pursuit of a particular story of note.

I strongly favor the continuation of newspapers like the NY Times and agree that the resources and structure they bring to news gathering is essential to a healthy democracy. I agree, too, that the state of internet reporting is diffuse and incapable of delivering both solid regional coverage and major investigative journalism at its best.

But I would have preferred to find out more about the workings of the NY Times today. This film doesn't provide that at all. It takes up an important issue about journalism in the 21st century, but that's not what I expected or wanted from this particular documentary--at least, not as the primary focus.

That broader inquiry belongs in another documentary not ostensibly about the NY Times but about the world of reporting and the role of internet and print journalism separately and in conjunction.