The Paper: A Journalist's Guide To What Not To Do

Hayley Lewis
hl646911@ohio.edu

Seek the Truth and Report It

Throughout the entire plot of the movie, The Paper, the characters seem to forget that the number one obligation of a journalist is to seek the truth. When the New York Sun becomes desperate to climb out of the hole it is in, they lose sight of their obligation to their readers and to their own reputation and multiple characters begin acting immorally. First, Henry steals information from another paper with the intention of using it for the Sun. This directly contradicts the SPJ Code of Ethics when it states, “avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information.”

But he is not the only Sun reporter at fault. Alicia chooses to report incorrect information on the front page even after Henry discovers its falsity. They come to blows over it – quite literally – and actually begin throwing punches at each other while their colleagues watch.

johnrieber.com

Minimizing Harm

The story causing the feud, a search for the culprits behind a gruesome double murder that seems to involve race relations, is a sensitive and controversial topic that relates directly to some of our headlines today. When police arrest two young, African-American men in conjunction with the murders, the Sun plans on running a front-page headline identifying them as guilty, a clear violation of their responsibilities as journalists. By condemning them in the paper, the Sun would be robbing the young men of a fair criminal trial by potentially swaying both public and juror sentiment.

Act Independently

Conflicts of interest abound in the Paper as the journalists strive to be first. Henry particularly gets caught up in this as he interviews for a position at the Sentinel. While this is a great opportunity for him, he cannot separate this opportunity from his current job at the Sun and inevitably takes advantage of the situation by stealing information. This coupled with personal relationships between the reporters creates a complicated mess at the Sun which obscures their ability to report good news.

Finally, Alicia struggles to maintain independence as managing editor by insisting they run stories based on the fact that all the other papers will be running it. Instead of looking out for the reputation of her paper and colleagues, she is more concerned with the financial profit that would result from sending controversial, yet untrue, stories to print.