Blog #3

The Front Page reaction

I thoroughly enjoyed watching The Front Page because it was very interesting to see how things were done in journalism years ago. 

I have learned that it is important to know our history in general so that we don't repeat the negative aspects of it. This seems to be true when it comes to the history of journalism as well. As seen in The Front Page, journalists haven't always strived for accurate information, but rather the storyline that will have people paying for paper after paper. 

In numerous scenes we see the journalists reporting exaggerated headlines and providing the news about the convict, Earl Williams, with incorrect facts and exaggerated information. The reporters tend to jump to conclusions in this movie, to create a narrative that is more interesting than the one happening in real time. 

That kind of ideal, where the truth is in the shadows behind the greed for more money and publicity, bothers me because people's lives and reputations are at stake. Williams is perceived as a lunatic and Mollie Malloy is only depicted as a hooker  to keep readers coming back for more. They are clearly misunderstood, and it is unfortunate that the reporters didn't take the time to hear their side. The reporters never think about anything other than their own careers, resulting in Williams and Malloy's lives at risk, with Malloy jumping out the window to create a distraction.

Another interesting thing that I noticed throughout the film is how friendly the reporters were with each other, even though they were competing for audience members. I'm not sure if they were necessarily concerned with the competition because they were making so many outrageous claims, so all the papers would entice readers to read no matter what. 

However, I don't think that we will ever see this kind of friendliness again for a few reasons. For instance, there aren't as many face-to-face interactions as possible with others in the field, with so many stories being produced online, so proper relationships can't be made. A lot of papers also support causes or side with certain political stances; therefore, it is not guaranteed that reporters will want to engage in friendly behavior with others if they don't agree with the values or opinions that their news organization aligns with.

In more recent years, media consumers have matured, which has resulted in many news organizations prioritizing accuracy. Media consumers have learned about misinformation and about how to detect it, so to keep and increase audience members, journalists can no longer exaggerate information or twists narratives. 

With all this in consideration, I don't think that we see news organizations trying to manipulate audiences as much as we use to, especially with media consumers having limited attention spans. There are so many ways for people to get their news, so news organizations must separate themselves from other platforms by gaining accurate information from reliable sources while also enticing readers with eye catching headlines that are also accurate.

We see multiple eras of journalism being depicted in the movie including the Penny Press era, Yellow Journalism / Sensationalism era and impressing the press baron era. 

For starters the Penny Press allowed for reporters to cut their strong tie with political parties because they could now sell papers for cheaper and have more people from the lower and middle classes buying them. Newspapers were now financially stable on their own and could write about more than just politics, which is why we see in the movie the reporters focusing many headlines on the Earl Williams case. 

As I previously mentioned, the newspapers are no longer relying on political parties for money, so they feel a sense of urgency to push out false narratives to get more people to buy and read the papers. We see the reporters all sitting around the table and as they witness or hear about the news, they immediately report it without knowing for sure the facts behind it all. 

We also see the competitive aspect between the reporters because even with them seeing and hearing the same information, they still come up with their own twist to the information. Instead of using  accuracy to stand apart from their competitors, they try to exaggerate the story more to catch reader's attention. By reporting in this manner, they impress their press barons because the crazier the story they tell, the more papers they will sell. However, by throwing accuracy and more thorough reporting to the side, the reporters risk people's lives, like Williams and Malloy's. They don't care about getting the story right, even when they are evoking fear into the people in the city, along with the people who are closer to the case.

The Front Page was a great movie and it clearly correlated nicely with our lessons in class. It provided us with a lot of lessons, demonstrating the dangers of Yellow Journalism. It certainly showed me that journalists need to provide accuracy when discussing events, especially when peoples' lives are on the line. 

I want to be a part of a respected organization, where accuracy, revealing the truth and showing multiple points of view are at the top of the priorities list. I couldn't live with myself if I was intentionally providing false narratives to the public because journalists are trusted in the community, or they at least should be, to unveil the truth and keep the public properly informed.