The Stories Behind the Headlines

From "The Paper"

There has been an ongoing trope within the film community that paints journalism as extremely exciting and sensationalized. On screen, it is almost always pictured as this thrilling career where a journalist’s life is on the line and the news is always about crime and death. Although there might be some truth to those claims, newswriting isn’t always as glamorous as one might imagine. “The Paper,” a 1994 movie about the daily goings-on of a tabloid and the lives of those who make it highlights these points in a series of tumultuous events that go from light-hearted to heart-wrenching in a matter of minutes.

The movie emphasizes, and at times humorously depicts the duty and responsibility that comes with being a staff writer. An entire paper takes hours of man power in order to produce the best possible articles and stories. The movie accurately portrays the dilemma between business and morality that occurs behind the headlines: will people read this story? Is the article right by our current understanding and knowledge? How much more money will waiting for this story cost? In a way, it really is the high stakes job that is usually described, but not in the glamourized way one would expect. It’s high stakes in the fact that behind a headline is always a life and reputation that can and will be changed by a few words that thousands of people will read.

In the movie, the protagonist Henry is constantly harangued by his colleagues and even his wife about a million things at once. At one point it was apparent that he was choosing between his marriage and his career. The pressures of balancing these two are apparent even in the editor-in-chief, Bernie’s relationship with his daughter. These are the apexes and valleys that make up most of the journalists’ day; each dealing and juggling with a job and a family that never sleeps and never chooses a time.

A huge chunk of a journalist’s day is uncovering stories that people will want to read. Their job is not only about information dissemination but also on how to keep readership up. They are constantly concerned about the next exclusive and if whether or not their rival newspapers will catch up to them for the next big scoop. In this world, headlines are currency, and whoever gets the best one wins for that day. This is where the moral and political sentiments arise the most: they have to check the validity of their information while simultaneously ensuring that people will want to read what they put out. A lot of times this might even go against their conduct as journalists. McDougal, succinctly explains it in a scene, where he told Alicia "We run stupid headlines because we need money... but at least it's the truth." These journalists aren’t given many choices on what appears on the front page or above the line, because they are going by what they believe will sell, and not necessarily what they believe is important for the public to know. But at the same time, despite the dilemma, they still stand by their rights and responsibilities as journalists to put out what’s true.

The job is made increasingly more difficult with the fact that “Everyday you start from zero” as quoted from Bernie. It’s a round the clock job where the news doesn’t wait for anybody, and journalists are expected to keep at it for as long as they can.

Overall the movie portrayed the un-sensationalized side of journalism that most movies don’t want to show. It’s exciting but it’s also boring. A newspaper is a constant work in progress by those who format, photograph, write, investigate and edit it. It’s a collaboration that requires clear communication and team work. It seems exhausting, because everybody is working on multiple things at once, but at the end of the day one can only imagine the pride and fulfillment when the finished paper gets published with the knowledge that you’ve done right by your code and craft.

It’s hard to forget the line they state at the beginning and end of the film that “everything can change in a day.” Indeed, the news doesn’t wait, but neither does life. Journalists and press personnel seem to always be caught between these two worlds, but they are always guided by their principle and responsibility towards the people they write about, and the people they are writing for. It’s not a job for everybody, but someone has to do it. Perhaps we can rest easy knowing that tomorrow we start from zero; that we only have to be wrong for today, and that sun will rise, always along with a sense of hope and a new beginning.