Barris, Alex. . Stop the presses! : The newspaperman in American films / Alex Barris. [049801603X : ] South Brunswick : A. S. Barnes, c1976.
Call#: PN1995.9.J6 B3 1976

    

    Stop the Presses! is an in-depth discussion of the portrayal of journalists in American movies. Barris writes that newspapermen have been Villains, Scandalmongers, and Human Beings. Most relevant to All the Presidents Men, Barris writes about journalists as Crusaders to expose social evils. Films about the journalist as a crusader, Barris argues, are a type of "message film" that serve to contradict the charge that Hollywood only ever makes "beach-party musicals and mock-horror Vincent Price movies." Frank Capra's It Happened One Night involves mother who creates her own newspaper in order to get out the truth of what is happening in Washington. This movie, like All the President's Men, stresses the role of journalist as a tireless upholder of the truth and the peoples' right to know as well as the importance of a free press. The message, in both films, is convincing because of the heroicism and single-mindedness of the characters.
    Another example of a famous crusading journalist is Gregory Peck's character in Gentlemen's Agreement. Peck's character pursued a story revealing the ugliness of anti-Semitism in post-war America by pretending to be Jewish. He pressed on despite the adverse affect it had on his professional and personal life, and ultimately writes an admired story. Somewhat similarly, Woodward and Bernstein press on despite ambiguous threats and warnings of immanent danger from Deep Throat. Barris mostly focuses on films from the 1950's in this section of the book. He states that the 50's was a hay day of journalist crusader films partially because the House Un-American Activities Committee was threatening the free speech of filmmakers all the time, and because they didn't seem to care as much about truth as about carrying out a paranoid witch hunt. They had "descended on the movie industry like a vigilante mob." It is likely that Hollywood writers felt victimized and that portraying of journalists as idealized heroes, and sometimes even martyrs, was a way to express their discontent about the rights and values that they felt were being suppressed by the Black List.