Journalists in Film: Heroes and Villains. Brian McNair. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2010. 256 pp.

It’s no news to anyone who watches movies that journalism is a perennial and popular subject. Tales of intrepid investigative reporters working the mean streets at home or in exotic locations abroad, and who overcome countless obstacles as they doggedly seek the truth are, as Brian McNair observes in Journalists in Film: Heroes and Villains, inherently dramatic. Toss in compelling—if flawed—personalities to add some human interest, and you have a recipe for cinematic success.

You also have a useful—if also flawed—teaching tool. I have included popular films in both my media law and media ethics classes for many years. Although some purport to be docudramas adopting a serious and reverential tone—All the President’s Men (1976) and Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) immediately come to mind—many are unabashed comedies. Even though no one would take literally the satire of His Girl Friday (1940), films with humor appeal to students, and can, by eliciting laughter, prompt thoughtful discussion and debate.  [Read more...]