Journalists get portrayed in movies all the time; some films get it right, some don't.
"The Last Letter From Your Lover" gets it right for me, although you may never meet a journalist exactly like the character Ellie Haworth plays in the film.
If you spend a lot of time around young journalists, you notice certain characteristics. Young reporters typically don't know, can't know, what attracts them to particular types of stories yet, and that's just as it should be.
Some come out of such a specific background that they almost embody it -- a place, a race, a culture, a gender, a religion, an emotional or intellectual type. But that doesn't mean that they can or even should do stories that conform with that background.
But assigning (really confining) them to those stories is a mistake many in media have made: Assuming a black reporter should cover a story in a black part of town, or "we need woman on this one." Not that these stereotype-based decisions are always wrong; sometimes they are completely right, but ultimately they are way too confining.
Anyone who goes into journalism and develops to any significant degree knows that while his or her background matters a great deal, it is hardly the end of the story. It's more like the beginning. We need to become great reporters despite our backgrounds as much as because of them.
I remember conversations I had with my late friend Raul Ramirez, a long-time executive at KQED, the NPR/PBS affiliate in San Francisco, while he was dying of cancer. He wanted to establish a fund that would support diversity in journalism at San Francisco State University in his final days, and he did.
I promised him I would help supervise the first journalists that got internships via that fund, and I did.
What Raul meant about diversity was in no way confined to representations of only certain ethnic or racial groups, sexual orientations, political perspectives or any of the other categories that divide us one from another.
He was of Cuban heritage himself, gay, and had the soul of an artist. He was given to suddenly breaking into song while crossing a street. He cried at the death of a former lover because he didn't know how to possibly help that man's family cope with his loss, when he knew they were deeply homophobic and unfamiliar with San Francisco's gay culture.
He didn't want to try and convince them of anything, he wanted to help them mourn. That, of course, is a far more profound issue than sexual orientation will ever be.
But in the movies, reporters rarely appear as nuanced as the people Raul wanted to help break into our business. In film, we often are portrayed as heroes ("All the President's Men"), irritants ("Maid in Manhattan"), or naive idealists ("Almost Famous").
And there are dozens of others: "The Post," "True Story," "Official Secrets," etc. We could debate the merits but I'm no film critic.
What I like about the part played by Felicity Jones in "Last Letter..." is she is just an everyday person who makes mistakes, questions the stupid rules she encounters, and never gives up on her investigation. When at one point in the film she reaches an apparent dead-end in the trail, an older man and former reporter himself says bluntly: "Well, you're a journalist. Try again."
She does and makes the breakthrough that allows the film to reach its necessary conclusion.
In the process, she finds out a lot about herself and also about something she didn't know she was searching for -- how to love and be loved.
That's about as perfect a conclusion as a journalist (or any person) can hope to achieve. I'm aware that a serious critic and even other journalists could have issues with the film, like maybe it isn't "realistic."
Remind me again. What is so great about reality?
***
THE HEADLINES:
* Biden Officials Now Expect Vulnerable Americans to Need Booster Shots -- The growing consensus that at least some Americans will need a booster is partly tied to research suggesting that Pfizer’s vaccine is less effective after about six months. (NYT)
* Frustration mounts over coronavirus vaccine holdouts -- Millions continue to refuse to get shots as the delta variant drives new outbreaks. (WP)
* Florida Leads U.S. in Covid-19 Cases as Hospitalizations Surge (WSJ)
* Persuasion vs. Coercion: Vaccine Debate in Europe Heats Up -- France is taking the lead in making life unpleasant for the unvaccinated, even requiring some people to get shots. Protesters see a soft dictatorship dawning.(NYT)
* Why some experts recommend upgrading to N95 masks to help fight the delta variant (WP)
* As more workers fall ill, Bay Area restaurateurs weigh a dramatic step: banning the unvaccinated (SF Chronicle)
* Pandemic lab: The loneliest Americans aren't reconnecting (WP)
* Some Florida Hospitals Have More Covid Patients Than Ever Before -- A rapid rise in Covid-19 hospitalizations in parts of the country with lagging vaccination rates is causing alarm. (NYT)
* China is stepping up its deception and denial in investigations of covid-19 (Editorial Board/WP)
* Oregon firefighters face return of hazardous conditions, COVID-19 outbreak (Reuters)
* Heavy rain in India triggers floods, landslides; at least 125 dead (Reuters)
* Facebook and YouTube spent a year fighting covid misinformation. It’s still spreading. (WP)
* Wall Street notches record closing high on earnings, economic strength (Reuters)
* Social-Media Manager, the Most Millennial Job, Comes of Age (WSJ)
* What happens if the Supreme Court throws out Roe v. Wade? (CNN)
* In a city besieged by the Taliban, Afghan military advances disappear with forces stretched thin (WP)
"Love Hurts"
Love wounds and marks
Any heart
Not tough or strong enough
To take a lot of pain, take a lot of pain
Love is like a cloud
Holds a lot of rain
Love hurts
Ooh, ooh love hurts
No comments:
Post a Comment