JAY ROSEN: I saw the movie Page One tonight. I think I’m too familiar with the subject to be a good judge. But I do have one observation to share. Page One shows off David Carr’s incredible feel for the American idiom. No character David Simon has come up with is better than Carr. MORE
TELLY DAVIDSON: Page One tells the story of the 2009-10 production year at the Times, focusing on several reporters (young bucks like Andrew Ross Sorkin and Tim Arango make appearances), but the main characters are embattled editor Bill Keller, and gruff, lovably no-nonsense media writer David Carr. It also gives us a look inside the Times’ temple of truth (which looks more like a trendy city library with its open floorplan, pop art and furniture and cubicles, than a headachy, fluorescent-lit Lou Grant or All the Presidents Mens sweatshop.) Far from being a dry (dare I say) newspaper-like documentary, the movie moves at an almost Entertainment Tonight pace, covering the almost uncountable ways and means in which the newspaper, magazine, and book publishing model we’ve known for the past 150 years is being obsoleted at photon-torpedo speed. From plagiarists and fact-cookers like Judith Miller and Jayson Blair ruining newspaper credibility, to the ethical questions surrounding WikiLeaks, to advertising revenues brought to their knees — well before the 2008 meltdown — by Monster.com, Craigslist, and Angie’s List, it’s all there. Not to mention the autistic 8-year-old’s attention span of Twitterized, text-messaging young readers, raised on shock journalism and reality TV. If Page One can be faulted for anything, it’s for information overload and biting off more than it can chew — but it should be commended for trying. MORE