Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Celluloid Newspapers
We have seen two films, His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane, in which the protagonists work in the newspapers business (Walter Burns is an editor, Hildy Johnson a reporter, Charles Foster Kane a publisher). What do these films tell us about the job of a reporter or publisher in the 1940's? What is the role or status of the newspaper at that time? How have things changed since that time?
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The films Citizen Kane and His Girl Friday both show how important and prestigious the newspaper business was during the mid-20th century. They also both show how media is used to push narratives that may not be true. In Citizen Kane, Mr. Kane uses the newspaper to bust trusts and to start wars similar to other newspapermen of the time. This shows that newspapers are able to control what people think. A great example of this feeling is when Kane says that he tells people what to think. Newspapers being able to manipulate society is something that both Kane and Walter Burns use to their advantage. By controlling what story comes out in the newspaper the outcome of elections and other important events can be changed. This is part of the reason that Kane likes owning newspapers because growing he did not have control over how he was raised. The newspaper gives him something that he can take charge of just like how he wants to control what people think about his second wife as an opera singer. Overall both of these films make it clear that the newspaper industry is not nescasarily to be trusted. Like in Citizen Kane when the man says to trust everything that you read in the newspaperm or in His Girl Friday when they repeadetly try and alter the story to fit a narritive. Both movies show reporters as seedy guys who are willing to do anything to make a story whether it is true or not. They do not care if the consequnces are war or an innocent man dying. Since the 1940s the media is consumed has changed as newspaper popularity is dying but the idea that media is not to be trusted is alive and well. With many things such as fake news from Russia and other clickbait sites it can be hard to tell what is real and what it is not. So the overall message of the films stay true even 70 years later.
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ReplyDeleteIn the films His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane, the viewer is taken through the world of the press during the 1940’s. While at first glance the viewer may believe that these are easier, non-stressful jobs, the truth is that this is a world full of hardworking, manipulative people who will stop at nothing to get what they want, when they want it. When the film His Girl Friday begins, Hildy Johnson, the protagonist, is a happily unemployed woman who is planning on moving upstate to Albany with her fiancé, Bruce Baldwin. Little does she know, her ex-husband and editor of the paper she used to work for has drastically different plans for his and her future. He pulls Hildy back into the world of press as a reporter for what he claims is just one more job, in the exchange of buying an insurance policy from her fiancé which will ultimately be lucrative for Hildy and Bruce. However, throughout the film, Walter slowly changes the deal asking more and more of Hildy for the promise of money. By the end of the film, Hildy is a full time reporter who no longer plans to marry her fiancé, Bruce, and become a housewife in Albany. Furthermore, she actually plans on re-marrying her scheming ex-husband Walter Burns. While these films are considered the greats of their time, there is certainly a message about the newspaper industry in the 1940’s beneath the service. One that says this is a world that one should think twice before entering.
ReplyDeleteThe role of the newspaper has changed drastically, before the internet, the newspaper wielded great power over the people as a main source of information; today, with the rise of social media, there is less and less of a need for a newspaper. In the 1940’s the job of a reporter or publisher was to inform the people of what was going on in the world. Being the main source of information, the newspaper had a very powerful position, as it had the ability to manipulate information and sway the opinions of many people. For example, in His Girl Friday Hildy and Walter work tirelessly to write a story about a potential murderer to save his life and in the process, prevent the Mayor from being reelected. They hold great power in that, if they succeed in publishing their story, the mayor will not be reelected. This means they have the ability to alter the course of thousands of peoples’ lives, not just a few. Likewise, in Citizen Kane, the newspaper was able to destroy Kane’s chances at being elected Governor. After publishing that he was having an affair, Kane’s run for governor was ended. It did not matter if what was published was the truth, the newspaper held power. Contrarily, in the present day, people are beginning to distrust the news platforms available. This lack of faith in the media is leading to an explosion of people reporting their own news on social media platforms such as snapchat and facebook, which deteriorates the necessity for the newspaper.
ReplyDeleteThe media has always had a job of bending people’s opinions to believe the content that they have released into the world. Their job since the 1940s has not changed that much, considering that the media has to tell the truth. The job of a reporter has also not changed, because the simple job of a reporter is to find a good story that will draw people to their article. Both His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane are good examples of these values, and technically, they stay true to them. However, it is not always true that the reporter gets a story very easily. Sometimes, they have to fight for a good story or bend the truth to make the story more interesting. In Citizen Kane, Mr. Kane has a wife in the opera, and while she is not very good at singing Kane must bend the truth to make the public see the positive side of her performance. Meanwhile, in This Girl Friday, Hildy has to hide the fact that she is harboring a criminal in the office she is writing her story about the criminal. The reporters in both films sometimes have to make risky decisions in order to get the story that they want. Currently, it seems that most reporters don’t have to do as much work to get a good story, since a lot of the drama people see is located on the internet. Even so, the media still does a good job of bending people’s opinions on the world.
ReplyDeleteThe depiction of newspapers in His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane shows a corrupt organization that uses its influence to manipulate the public in order to increase their goals. This goal is often to increase their viewership and revenue. However, we see this goal shift into a more political stance in both films. In such a manipulative environment reporters must be willing to not only bend the truth but also add information they created. Publishers also participate by coordinating and unifying their newspaper’s story. This machine of lies isn’t dismantled by the public because newspapers are the only source of news in the 1940’s. This gives newspapers a unique role, in 1940’s America, as the only source of news for the public. However, this is no longer true today; we have hundreds of news sources, many of which aren’t regulated. This has changed the nature of reporting, where reporters are unable to prolifically lie about the facts. The goal of newspapers has only become more vital, however, because news sources must compete with hundreds of others. This means that news sources have turned from exaggerating facts to shouting their exaggerated opinions. This has the same intended goal and affect, to drag in viewers and increase revenue, but without labeled as yellow journalism. The role of reporters and publishers hasn’t changed from 1940’s but rather the methods they employ to reach their goals has changed. Reporters no longer instantly making lies, but rather give the factual truth and then spin the truth to create a startling headline and make the news. Publishers now can arranged the news such that we see the giant headline and buy the paper, but then the startling headline is qualified in the paper. Outrageous articles that claw into people conscious are now relegated to opinion articles, unlike the papers shown in the films. The films portrayed papers that were classified as factual including falsehoods and opinions that swayed reader conviction. In many ways the portrayal of Journalism in His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane still reflects the role of reporters and structure of journalism today, yet the methods employed to achieve the same goals, selling newspapers and public manipulation, have adapted to today’s media saturated climate.
ReplyDeleteHis Girl Friday and Citizen Kane are two film created in the early 1940s that are thematically different, yet contain an element that unifies them in a sense: the importance of the newspaper business. In both films, the protagonists work in the newspaper business; Charles Foster Kane from Citizen Kane is a publisher while Hildy Johnson from His Girl Friday is a reporter. This displays the importance and power that the newspaper business had over the 1940’s society. Before the internet, newspapers were the main source of information for the public, therefor the people in the business could control and to a certain extent manipulate the thoughts of the people. For example, in His Girl Friday, when Earl Williams escapes from prison, there is a scene where several reporters attempt to jump on the story to write an account of what happened, and each reporter had a different version of the story to share. Since newspapers were the sole resource for this type of information, the public has no reason not to believe what was being said even though it possibly contained false information. Although there are still skewed interpretations in news today, there are several reliable sources where the public can pull information of to make a reasonable inference towards the truth. In Citizen Kane, the same idea of yellow journalism occurs when Kane publishes articles attacking Thatcher’s business interest. Even though this report was an exaggeration, it was mass published in the “New York Inquirer” giving Thatcher a negative connotation. Through the development of technology in the recent years, newspapers have almost gone out of style, yet the idea of spreading altered versions of the truth still exists in today’s society.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these films intend to prove that the media, especially the newspaper, are dishonest and corrupt. They both point out on multiple occasions the tragic flaws that the media clearly possesses. A great example of this in Citizen Kane is at the beginning of the movie when Kane purchased the newspaper business. It seems as though an important reason for Kane purchasing the “Inquirer” is to gain a sense of control similar to the lack of control he had throughout his childhood. This need for control results in him perusing a profession where he can control large amounts of people. Thus resulting in a newspaper that is bias, dishonest, and completely corrupt. Simply to further prove Kane’s hunger for power and control, I believe Kane ran for President for similar reasons; to increase the audience in which he controls. This characteristic carries over into his newspaper business. A similarly corrupt newspaper business is presented in His Girl Friday. While I believe exposing bias and corrupt media may not have been the main intent in the film, it certainly is addressed. Also I believe that Walter Burns, while conducting a corrupt business similar to Kane’s, does not do so because of his struggle for power and control, but rather for popularity and riches. A great example of Walter’s corrupt newspaper is when Hildy and him are locked in the writing room crafting a piece about Earl, the man accused of murder. If I remember correctly Hildy planted seeds, during her interview with Earl, to get the story she wanted out of him. Thus once they began writing, both Hildy and Walter write based on what they want it to say rather than facts. The only hard evidence they use is Earl’s words that are not truly his own. Thus while it may be for different reasons both of these newspaper businesses are absolutely corrupt and bias.
ReplyDeleteFrom watching the reporters and publishers in the films, His girl Friday and Citizen Kane, I got the insight of what the job of being in the newspaper business was like in the 1940’s. The characters in His girl Friday, exemplified that getting every detail was important but not as important as persuading the people to read the newspaper. The news reporters wanted to grab the reader’s attention even if they were not telling the full truth and twisted the storyline. The better and more ironic the storyline, the better the newspaper business. As the movie continues, I started to realize there was no backup checks on the information that they obtained interviewing these random people but if the interview were interesting, they would report the interview anyways ignoring the lies or truths that were being told. In today’s newspaper or social media businesses the number one rule for reporting information on the media is to tell the truth. Meaning word for word interviews and no opinions from the writer only the opinion of the person being interviewed. Only facts are allowed in the media realm, for if a business lies in reporting news, what is to be called “fake news”, then that business will have law suites and that media business will most likely be shut down. People will also start to distrust and second-guess the social media or newspaper due to having “fake news” relevant to today. In the film, Citizen Kane, I noticed that the publisher and main character Charles Foster Kane, was in the news business for money purposes and not to inform the people of day-to-day news. His purpose in the business effected the outcome of the news being true and non-opinionated because all he was concerned with was making money off a good storyline regarding whether or not it was facts. Giving the people false information. I have learned from these two movies, made in the 1940’s, that the newspaper business was not a reliant source and was losing business due to readers figuring out that the news was fake. Overall people still read the news to be updated on what people around them were saying but not for reliant facts on a certain situation.
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