Page One

I saw Page One last week at our little indie theatre. Okay, it isn't so little anymore. It has two screens. It's a replacement for the old indie are theatre--it no longer feels like I am sitting in someone's grandma's basement watching home videos on a bed sheet. (The old indie theatre still exists, and shows other films. So now we have three screens showing indie films. For the first time in a long time, there are so many films in town I want to see, I don't know what to do.)

Anyway, Page One. Everyone should see this. Every instruction librarian should see this. Every person involved with or interested in any form of media should see this. It's that good. It covers the media desk at the NY Times, and among other things it covers:

• Coverage of breaking news (comparing how the Times were made aware of and covered the Pentagon Papers and Wikileaks).
• Info on the various reporters. David Carr is the star here.
• Twitter and other social networks and how they distribute news.
• The pairing of non-news sites with news sites (the example was vibe.com and cnn.com).
• Coverage of the "end" of the combat mission in Iraq
• Bankruptcy of the Tribune Company (and the current state of newspapers in general). Here they follow Carr and he tries to track down some info on the owner of the Tribune Company
• Recent NY Times controversies, including Jason Blair. 
• News aggregators 
• Information, it's role in society.
• How do you judge the source of the information?
• ...And so much more. 

It's a lot. Really. Normally, I'd say they tried to cover too much in eighty-eight minutes, but it works. I would love to see a more in-depth break down/comparison of the coverage of how big storied like the Pentagon Papers and Watergate compare to how the Big Stories (like Wikileaks) are covered now.

If it comes anywhere near you, go see it. I plan on watching it again when it comes out on DVD.