The Paper (1994)

Ron Howard’s The Paper followed the day of the New York Sun’s employees whose work got more interesting with latest news coming from Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Two American Sedona Savings and Loan board members were shot dead in a car, which had been vandalized with racial slurs. The prime suspects were two African-American teenagers who happened to pass by the scene. However, Metro Editor Henry Hackett believed otherwise, determined to release the true story for tomorrow's issue.

The Paper characters show that rushing for a story is all in day's work. Photo from Virtual History.

The film mainly demonstrated the fast-paced nature of a journalist’s job as releasing relevant news is crucial in the industry. With only so many hours in a day, reporters need to exert all efforts to provide outputs by their assigned deadlines for content in the next issue. This entails them to gather basic facts, to speak with those involved, and to write the article as fast as possible while still maintaining quality.

Failing to meet a tight deadline is every journalist’s worst nightmare, with Hackett being no different. In a staff meeting, he brought up information taken from their rival The Sentinel, mentioning how the murdered businessmen lost millions of dollars from an investor. Editor-in-Chief Bernie White gave him the opportunity to publish this as the headline as long as the eight o’clock deadline is met with the substantiated article and corresponding art.

This gave Hackett an estimated five hours to work on his story. But between editing other writers’ outputs, as well as no one speaking in the police headquarters and the Justice Department, he found himself pressed for time to find supporting statements for his angle. It then became a challenge for Hackett to finish his article on time and avoid delay charges despite having many other work-related matters on his plate.

To make his situation worse, Hackett found it difficult to share his schedule with his personal life. A dinner with his pregnant wife Martha and his parents competed for his time to quote the cops about the teenagers’ innocence. He had to abruptly cut their plans short, which disappointed his wife and made her worry about possibly raising their child alone. His family life interfered with his work as they both fought for the same attention from Hackett.

The rush of the job created conflict not just with personal matters but also among publications. There was competition within the industry as every newspaper aimed to have the most pressing events on their covers. Different publications went against each other to scoop out exclusives that could make their issue stand out and earn money.

While profit became the goal in some reporters’ eyes, the movie emphasized the priority of truth and accuracy before anything else in journalism. Despite the low salaries and demanding hours of his job, Hackett took pride in the New York Sun’s work, knowing their paper never published a false article.

This honest record, however, was threatened by Managing Editor Alicia Clark who wanted to run a more scandalous angle of the Williamsburg murder. Her vision for the headline narrated how the police caught the two teenagers. On the other hand, Hackett had a gut feeling that the boys were not the real culprits, opting to frame the story about their innocence instead.

Alicia Clark and Henry Hackett get into a heated argument about tomorrow's headline. Photo from Virtual History.

Hackett was successful in finding evidence as he traced the investor to the proprietor of E & R Interstate Trucking Nicholas D'Onofrio and got a quote from a cop saying that the two kids didn’t do it. The only thing stopping him from publishing his story was that Clark’s version had already begun printing. Since Clark was adamant in publishing her “Gotcha!” headline, the two fought in the printing room.

Hackett could have gotten into less trouble in publishing his work if he simply met the deadline earlier that evening. The movie showcases how publishing a newspaper is a time-sensitive process that needs journalists to work quickly to avoid delays and additional costs. It is important that publications run articles that are timely to the situation at present.

From this film, viewers learn that despite the many possible angles for every story, it is the journalist’s responsibility to keep the publication’s integrity by keeping their articles honest. Reporters must always be ethical and moral when crafting their articles as they trusted by the public to feed them real news. Writing a false or sensationalized story may possibly result in more sales but it comes at the cost of influencing the readers’ perception towards the wrong direction.

Covering controversial events like the Williamsburg murder not only requires honesty, but also resourcefulness from the journalists. Intern Robin was overwhelmed with the many other reporters in the perp walk. Although she was able to capture the moment by sheer luck, the scene teaches viewers that covering demands assertiveness and preparedness. These will most likely (although not always) ensure getting the necessary materials for the story as seen when Hackett successfully persuaded the cop to give his statement on the record.

At the end of the movie, Clark had a change of heart and decided to reprint the issue with Hackett’s headline instead, causing the accused teenagers to walk free without any charges. The day the journalists encompass is not just limited to their process of getting the story; it also includes the effect of their works and its power to change lives once they are published.