Monday, September 26, 2011

Page One is powerful.


Last Thursday I went to see Page One: Inside the New York Times.

When the lights turned back on and I walked out of the theatre I had a furry of emotions rumbling and rolling inside my brain.

The New York Times makes me want to be a good journalist. Not that I ever wanted to be a bad journalist, but watching that documentary just makes you want to do good and do more and to become a journalistic voice that counts.

I've always wanted to be a journalist who focuses on entertainment; whether that be fashion, pop culture or music. I never really considered anything else because that’s where my passion lies.

Watching this documentary made me open my mind to new ideas. It made me want to toss out my blazers and heels (Which I had planned to wear to work once I left Red River College), and trade them in for a bowler hat and a pipe aka something that looks more appropriate for an investigative journalist. Watching this documentary really made me realize what journalists do for the public. They inform the public on things which the public may not have access to. They investigate the story, they find the details and they unveil it to the public whether the government aggress or not. (to some extent) Journalists are truth tellers.  I’d like to be known as that.

I was high strung with emotions while I was watching the documentary. The New York Times is an entity. It’s almost indescribable the way the documentary made me feel about the Times. The Times exudes this overwhelming feeling of power and prestige and importance to me. It gave me chills just to look at the interior of the building. It seems like a whimsical other world.

Who actually works at the Times? There are people that are intelligent enough, sophisticated enough, cutting edge enough and talented enough to work there? I hung off of ever word that the reporters spoke. How did they get to this point in their lives? It’s amazing to me and unfathomable.

What I really took out of the documentary was that the journalist is not dead. Maybe all forms of news publications have a grim future but not the journalist. The journalists future is bright. We need someone to tell the stories of the world. It doesn’t matter if those stories are about war, politics, puppies or fashion the stories should be told. And they will be told. Bloggers, Twitterers and others cannot comment, cannot speculate, cannot write about a situation unless there is a journalist reporting to them what the situation is.