Will the last person to leave the newsroom please turn out the lights?
January 27, 2010 7 Comments
do unto others
August 7, 2009 Comments Off
newspapers can’t be successful online?
July 9, 2009 Comments Off
a bad idea
July 1, 2009 1 Comment
State of Print
Resting at the heart of State of Play (2009) is not so much the personal relationships of the characters – who are mostly forgettable save for Crowe’s Cal McAffrey – or the grand (and oddly relevant) political conspiracy involving the Blackwater imitator PointCorp, but rather the struggle facing the newspaper itself. McAffrey, a rugged, rough-around-the-edges reporter is as much a relic of the old journalistic “print only” days as the paper he works at, the Globe, a fictionalized version of the Wall Street Journal, replete with its new owner “Media Corps.”
In one scene he brags loudly about his “fifteen-year-old computer” while complaining about the Globe’s political blogger, and McAffrey’s later compatriot, Della (Rachel McAdams). Later we see him punching numbers into a Blackberry; and still later, after whipping together some instant mashed potatoes in his clothes and paper-strewn bachelor pad, typing on a very modern Apple laptop, rendering his earlier complaint – “She could launch a Russian satellite with the gear she’s got” – rather silly.
Nevertheless, the crossroads of New and Old media are vital to understanding the film. In their first encounter, Cal britstles at his online co-worker when she inquires into the possible love affair between Cal’s friend, the young congressmen Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck), and his recently deceased researcher, with the contemptuous parting line: ““I’ll need to read a few blogs in order to form an opinion.” [Read more →]
May 4, 2009 2 Comments
