Hey, That’s My Name

I’ve been browsing several reviews of State of Play over the past few days and have noticed several writers noting that the film takes the position that newspapers need to save the world from the big bad blogging. This has bothered me because I think the film’s position is much more nuanced than that. It’s without a doubt, a love not to journalism. You only need to stay through the end credits, which a run over a Mr. Rogers-style reel of the newspapers being printed and carried off in a truck, to feel the sentiment that the filmmakers have for the medium. Still, I think the film contained jibes for what for newspaper journalism has become, as well, as was evidenced in a scene where a character holds up a trashy and gossipy front page and demands to know why their paper didn’t have this story. And it is with that, that I share this interview Ben Affleck had with Rachel Maddow last night in which he notes some of the mistakes that newspapers have made over the years and why the public might not only be turning to blogs because they’re free:

Tags: Ben Affleck, journalism, MSNBC, newspapers, Rachel Maddow, State of Play

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