PAGE ONE

ReviewPage One: Inside The New York Times occasionally shows what the title seems to promise:

the process of deciding which stories get to live on the most valuable piece of real estate in

the newspaper business. These scenes, however, are few and brief. For most of its 88

minutes, this documentary by writer-director-cinematographer Andrew Rossi and his co-

writer, Kate Novack, is preoccupied not with the world of events you might read on page

one, but with the question of whether newspapers can afford to keep printing anything there

at all. Movie shows you the ups and downs of print journalism roughly from October 2009

through October 2010. Page One incorporates 10 major stories from the period, selecting

them to illustrate the forces that now affect even the magisterial Times.

Page One front-loads its narrative with stories that are not about the newspaper business

per se but about online media, cable television, and the decision by entertainment

conglomerates to shrink their investments in broadcast reporting. Much is made of the

ability of WikiLeaks to break a story on YouTube, without having to rely on any news

organization; much is made of reporter Brian Stelter’s rise from being a self-employed

blogger to having a coveted staff position on the Times. Page One nevertheless gives you a

strong impression of the old print world being overwhelmed by the new and the wired.

In the first half of the movie they call up the threats and challenges that face the paper.

Then, in the second half, they build up the case for the ongoing value of the Times.  It’s a

“conflict of interest.” I know almost nothing about how The New York Times works.

It's a bracing reminder that good writing and good journalism don't happen naturally; they

have to be nurtured.