Page One: Inside the New York Times (ATOM Study Guide)

Page One: Inside the New York Times is a film about the inside workings of a major American newspaper – The New York Times – at a time when the survival of newspapers is under threat from new media, and particularly the internet. With the internet surpassing print as our main news source and newspapers all over the world going bankrupt, Page One chronicles the transformation of the media industry at its time of greatest turmoil.

The film gives us a close-up look at the vibrant cross-cubicle debates and collaborations, tenacious jockeying for on-the-record quotes and skillful page-one pitching that produce the daily newspaper. What emerges is a portrait of journalists continuing to produce extraordinary work – under increasingly difficult circumstances.

The writers track print journalism's metamorphoses even as their own paper struggles to stay vital and solvent. Meanwhile, editors and publishers grapple with challenges from players like WikiLeaks, new media and platforms from Twitter to tablet computers, and readers' expectations that news online should be free.

At the heart of the film are these questions: Will the fast-moving future of media leave behind the fact-based, original reporting that has been the hallmark of many great newspapers and helped to define many democratic societies? What does a free press mean in practice? Do we still need print newspapers such as The New York Times in the USA, The Guardian in Britain and Australia's The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian? How can newspapers adapt to the demands of an audience increasingly likely to access news digitally?

Page One would be suitable for senior and tertiary students of English, Journalism and Media Studies. It runs for 98 minutes.