The newsroom as told by "The Paper"

Alessa Rosa

ar2248112@ohio.edu

Picture taken from IMDb

Ron Howard’s 1994 ThePaper follows the life of a New York City newspaper editor and showcases ethical and daily conflicts in the newsroom.

WORK ETHIC

The most prominent conflict in the film involves Henry’s and the newspaper’s work ethics. Throughout the movie, Henry has to constantly choose between his personal life and his work life. His pregnant wife feels the constraints of becoming a mother and having given up her career and feels that Henry does not take their new future in consideration. Another conflict takes place when Henry steals a lead while applying for a position at another newspaper. Here, we witness an act of wrongful work ethic because the editor of the newspaper specifically was not willing to share. This kind of work ethic is not acceptable even if you are a “journalist,” which was Henry’s excuse for doing what he did because it shows your untrustworthiness. Moreover, in the movie we get a feel that the newspaper does not deliver good content, but instead is worried about financial gains. This is questionable because it causes the newspaper to lose its independence when reporting the truth, because it is tied down to money (a problem that has only intensified nowadays). In the end, the movie teaches us that there needs to be a balance between your personal life and your career and that money should not be the biggest worry when reporting.

TRUTH

Because a journalist’s duty is to report the truth, financial gains can only fall secondary to that. In the movie, there is a prominent story taking the cover of most local newspapers that involves the murder of two white citizens. While most suspect two innocent black bystanders as the culprit, the truth is that the murders are tied to the organized crime influence in the city. Henry and his newspaper are ready to run a story that will implicate the two boys just like everyone else. However as the paper is being printed, Henry finds out the truth and wants to make sure that that is the story that will be printed. Alicia, however, does not want to lose money and have them stoop the process and thinks that that can be another day’s story. This attitude goes against everything a journalist should believe in. This ethical conflict is resolved once she realizes her mistake and decides to write the truth no matter what the cost would be. This decision is important because not only does the public deserve to know the truth, but the two boys deserve to have the truth be told about them and not be implicated in a crime they had nothing to do with.