A day in the life of the newsroom of Baltimore Sun from the reporters following their stories from the many different columns and headlines all
the way to its printing and publishing. This Oscar nominated short documentary takes viewers to the process of newsmen doing fact-checking, interviewing
people, finding a way to use the right words to the limited space given, and they cover several issues such an intriguing embezzlement scandal; Jimmy
Carter's presidential race where he visited the town; a piece on a baseball team with a player questioning the fact on how news attacks players without
knowing them personally; and some bits and pieces from stories we don't get to follow all that much (which includes a man's suicide) and a cartoonist
trying to get approval on his toons.
It's a small fascinating view on printed media before the advent of internet and curious to see the whole work behind a busy newsroom from the 1970's. It's impact
as a documentary is a little reduced and quite problematic as the cinema verité style didn't help much to get a clean view on those men as they talk over
each other all the time and the sound quality isn't all that good, and if you don't know much about the events covered you get very confused (the scandal
was hard to follow).
Also hurts the experience the lack of interviews with the reporters, we just look at them following their leads, and the only point
of view captured comes from the head editor in a sequence where a foreign woman asks for help from the newspaper as her husband is wrongly accused of
murder but he says he can't help. It'd be interesting to have some insights on how they view their profession, the obstacles they enjoy or not and what
inspires them in becoming dedicated professionals. Honestly, I think the newspaper only made this documentary on a whim to capture some attention on
newsrooms and their work after the success conquered with "All the President's Men", the film that inspired many young people to become journalists. Nothing wrong with that, it's commendable, but with a more appealing presentation it'd be ten times better than it is. Simply enjoyable. 6/10.
