Page One: Inside the New York Times

I’ve never been inside the newsroom of a newspaper but I felt as if I had after watching the documentary, Page One: Inside the New York Times at the Naro Thursday evening.

I’m one of those folks who rarely leaves the house in the morning without reading my newspaper. On the occasions when I do, my day isn’t quite right as I feel as if I’ve missed something. But I know that for many, reading the newspaper isn’t high on the priority list. It is no surprise, then, that the industry has suffered a decline in circulation.

Most of us are aware that the Times has instituted a paywall. That subject is touched on in the film. But that’s not the story here. The story is what lengths newspaper journalists go to in order to get a story, get it right, and get it included in the newspaper, preferably on A1. It was riveting.

My favorite scene in the movie was when David Carr was on a panel and the guy from newser.com was being pretty disrespectful of the news. Carr, a veteran reporter with a colorful past, held up a piece of paper with holes in the front page grid of the site, demonstrating what newser would have if there were no newspapers.

Also mentioned in the movie was ProPublica, the independent, non-profit investigative journalism newsroom whose managing editor is  Stephen Engelberg, a former investigative editor of the Times.

I think newspapers are adapting to reflect the changes that are occurring in their industry. I’m convinced that there is a business model for them, although I’m not sure that a paywall is the answer. (And we’ve previously discussed publicly funded journalism.) But when TV news it little more than infotainment, the newspaper is the last source of factual reporting. As much as I have picked on the Pilot at times, as I’ve said before, it is because I want them to continue.

Anyway, if you have an opportunity to see the film, I highly recommend it.