Review of Page One: Inside the New York Times (2011) by Manny C — 20 Jul 2011

Let's face it, newspapers are in trouble. Page One, a fascinating and provocative documentary from Andrew Rossi attempts to take a deep look into the damage done to print by the hands of the internet. To do this he was granted unprecedented access to the big cheese known as the New York Times. What follows is media editor Bruce Headlam meeting with reporters, including recent recruits Brian Stelter, and most fascinating, David Carr, the gravelly voiced ex-crack addict turned media columnist with a savage tongue. It's a kick to see Carr take down staffers at Vice magazine and the iPad ('You know what this reminds me of? A newspaper').

Rossi also had the good fortune to be around when Wikileaks maestro Julian Assange brought the Times secrets documents about the war in Afghanistan, which brings to mind Daniel Ellsberg's leaking of the Pentagon Papers to the Times in 1971, except executive editor Bill Keller makes sure to note that 'Ellsberg needed [them]. Wikileaks doesn't'. Rossi does make sure to turn the heat on the Times for their arrogance and the infamous scandals involving Judith Miller and Jayson Blair, but it's seeing the Times compromise its standards so casually that really resonates. It's things like that that made me wish Rossi had gone much deeper, but it makes Page One no less of a documentary that requires viewing.