Newspaper Movies: The Complete List*
As a newspaper obsessive, during the UK’s COVID-19 lockdown, I started compiling and reviewing a list of films set in newspapers or featuring journalists. Since then, it’s continued to grow. This is the complete list of films I’ve discovered so far. I’ve reviewed some and will add more films as I come across them.
* I’ve not included more general journalism movies or most comedies – a completely biased editorial decision, I know.
The majority of these are shot in the US and featuring US newspapers. I’m particularly keen to get recommendations from other parts of the world.
If you have a newspaper-related movie recommendation, please get in touch.
updated: 20 September 2024
A Mighty Heart
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (2007)
A Mighty Heart is a real-life drama directed by Michael Winterbottom from a screenplay by John Orloff.
It is based on the memoir of the same name by Mariane Pearl. It details the search for her husband, the kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Absence of Malice
▶︎ Drama (1981)
Absence of Malice is an American thriller directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Paul Newman, Sally Field, Wilford Brimley, Melinda Dillon and Bob Balaban.
A Miami liquor wholesaler (Paul Newman) wakes one day to a front-page story in the local newspaper indicating he is being investigated in the disappearance of a local union official.
The story was written by a Miami Standard newspaper reporter (Sally Field), who reads it from a file left intentionally on the desk of a federal prosecutor. It turns out the prosecutor leaked it to squeeze Gallagher for information. The film details Gallagher's efforts to clear his name.
Ace in the Hole
▶︎ Drama (1951)
Ace in the Hole is a 1951 American film noir starring Kirk Douglas as a cynical, disgraced reporter who stops at nothing to try to regain a job on a major newspaper.
The story is a biting examination of the seedy relationship between the press, the news it reports and the manner in which it reports it. The film also shows how a gullible public can be manipulated by the press. (Wikipedia - edited)
All the President’s Men
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (1976)
It's a classic. With the possible exception of Citizen Kane probably the best-known film on my list. You've probably seen it, but trust me it warrants another look, and if you've never watched it you're in for a treat.
On 17th June 1972, five men broke into the Democratic National Committee offices housed on the sixth floor of the Watergate Building. An event which, in large part, led two years later to the resignation of President Nixon.
The film dramatises the first seven months of The Washington Post's two-year investigation into the burglary.
All the President’s Men Revisited
▶︎ Documentary (2013)
Currently not available to stream in the UK.
Bad Education
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (2019)
Bad Education is a 2019 American crime drama film directed by Cory Finley and written by Mike Makowsky. It is based on the 2004 New York magazine article "The Bad Superintendent" by Robert Kolker, about the true story of the largest public school embezzlement in American history. (Wikipedia)
BAD PRESS
▶︎ Documentary (2023)
“When the Muscogee Nation government abruptly repeals its landmark Free Press Act to muzzle the tribe’s hard-hitting news outlet, defiant and foul-mouthed journalist Angel Ellis charges headfirst into a historic battle to restore her tribe’s press freedoms. An enthralling, edge-of-your-seat nail biter that unfurls with the energy and suspense of a political thriller, BAD PRESS is a timely and unprecedented documentary about a lone journalist fighting a corrupt system for her fellow citizens.” (Producer’s logline)
The Big Clock
▶︎ Drama (1948)
Anticipating a much-needed vacation from Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton), his abusive boss, magazine editor George Stroud (Ray Milland) finally reaches a breaking point when Janoth insists he skip his honeymoon and go out of town on assignment. Stroud resigns and finds solace over multiple drinks with his boss' unhappy mistress, Pauline York (Rita Johnson), at a local bar. Together they come up with a half-inebriated plot to embarrass Janoth -- but the plan takes an unexpected turn toward murder. (Rotten Tomatoes)
Bill Cunningham, New York
▶︎ Documentary (2010)
Bill Cunningham New York is a 2010 American documentary film directed by Richard Press and produced by Philip Gefter.
Full of uptown fixtures (such as Wintour, Tom Wolfe, Brooke Astor, David Rockefeller—who all appear in the film), downtown eccentrics and everyone in between, Cunningham's enormous body of work documents its time and place as well as individual flair. (Wikipedia)
Black & White and Dead All Over
▶︎ Documentary (2013)
Currently not available to stream in the UK.
Black and White and Dead All Over is a 2013 documentary film directed by Chris Foster. The film investigates the demise of American print journalism by following Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman, journalists for the Philadelphia Daily News newspaper. It also interviews other highly regarded journalists. (Wikipedia)
Call Northside 777
▶︎ Drama (1948)
Call Northside 777 is a 1948 reality-based newspaper drama directed by Henry Hathaway. The film parallels the true story of a Chicago reporter who proved that a man jailed for murder was wrongly convicted 11 years before.
James Stewart stars as the persistent journalist and Richard Conte plays the imprisoned Frank Wiecek. Wiecek is based on Joseph Majczek, who was wrongly convicted of the murder of a Chicago policeman in 1932, one of the worst years of organized crime during Prohibition. (Wikipedia)
Capote
▶︎ Drama (2005)
Capote is a biographical drama about American novelist Truman Capote directed by Bennett Miller, and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman as the man himself.
It was released September 30, 2005, coinciding with Capote's birthday. The film received acclaim from critics for Hoffman's lead performance and won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his portrayal of the title character.
Citizenfour
▶︎ Documentary (2014)
Citizenfour is a 2014 documentary film directed by Laura Poitras, concerning Edward Snowden and the NSA spying scandal.
The film centres around Poitras and Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald. It shows the incredible bravery of, 29-year old, Snowden who leaves a long-term relationship, his family, his job and his country, knowing he can never return.
A gripping account of a man standing up for his principles.
Citizen Kane
▶︎ Drama (1941)
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film produced and directed by Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. Citizen Kane is considered by many critics and experts to be the greatest film ever made. It was voted number 1 in five consecutive British Film Institute Sight & Sound polls of critics, and it topped the American Film Institute's 100 Years ... 100 Movies list in 1998, as well as its 2007 update.
The film was nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories and it won for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Mankiewicz and Welles. (Wikipedia)
Deadline U.S.A.
▶︎ Documentary (1952)
Deadline – U.S.A. is a 1952 American film noir crime film and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ethel Barrymoreand Kim Hunter, written and directed by Richard Brooks. It is the story of a crusading newspaper editor who exposes a gangster's crimes while also trying to keep the paper from going out of business, and contains a subplot of him trying to reconcile with his ex-wife. (Wikipedia)
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie with so many different poster designs.
everything is copy - Nora Ephron: Scripted & Unscripted
▶︎ Documentary (2016)
Everything Is Copy — Nora Ephron: Scripted & Unscripted follows Ephron's career "from her gig as the “mail girl” at Newsweek to reporting for the New York Post to becoming a prestigious essayist at Esquire to successfully writing and directing Hollywood movies that revitalized the romantic comedy genre.
The film captures Ephron's "razor-sharp wit while at the same time presenting her flaws through interviews with her closest friends like Meg Ryan, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, the late Mike Nichols and journalists like Gay Talese and Richard Cohen." (Wikipedia)
Final Edition - The End of a Newspaper
▶︎ Documentary (2009)
After 149 years and 311 days, the Rocky Mountain News published its final edition on February 27, 2009. This short film by Matthew Roberts documents that final day.
Foreign Correspondent
▶︎ Drama (1940)
Foreign Correspondent (a.k.a. Imposter and Personal History) is a 1940 American black-and-white spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It tells the story of an American reporter based in Britain who tries to expose enemy spies involved in a fictional continent-wide conspiracy in the prelude to World War II. (Wikipedia)
The Insider
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (1999)
Lowell Bergman is the producer of Sixty Minutes, a CBS News production with a national reputation for investigative journalism. Bergman contacts Jeffrey Wigand, the former Vice President for Research and Development at Brown & Williamson Tobacco, regarding consulting for a story. Wigand is nervous and so specific about what he can and cannot discuss that Bergman realises there could be a larger story.
Joan Didion: The Centre Will Not Hold
▶︎ Documentary (2017)
Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold is a 2017 documentary film about Joan Didion and her work.
In the film, director Griffin Dunne, Joan Didion's nephew, incorporates archival footage and conversations with Didion about the eras she covered in essays, novels and screenplays, as well as events in her personal life. (Wikipedia)
The Journalist
▶︎ Drama (2019)
▶︎ Japanese with subtitles
The Journalist (新聞記者, Shinbun Kisha) is a 2019 Japanese drama film loosely based on the 2017 book of the same name by Isoko Mochizuki, directed by Michihito Fujii.
It received 6 Japan Academy Prize nominations and won three, including Picture of the Year, Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role and Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. (Wikipedia)
Kill the Messenger
▶︎ Drama (2014)
Kill the Messenger is the true story of Gary Webb, an investigative journalist working for the San Jose Mercury News. Webb was passed court papers implicating the CIA in supplying arms to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. This much I knew; what I wasn't aware of, or maybe I'd forgotten, was that the bulk of that funding came from the sale of cocaine imported into the US. The arms were being flown out, the planes were then loaded with drugs for the return journey.
The Killing Fields
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (1984)
The Killing Fields is a 1984 British biographical drama film about the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, which is based on the experiences of two journalists: Cambodian Dith Pran and American Sydney Schanberg.
At the 57th Academy Awards it received seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture; it won three, most notably Best Supporting Actor for Haing S. Ngor, who had no previous acting experience, as well as Best Cinematography and Best Editing. (Wikipedia)
The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee
▶︎ Documentary (2017)
"As any rational person would expect, the subject of HBO’s The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee--the executive editor who presided over the Washington Post’s coverage of the Watergate scandal that drove Richard Nixon from office--quickly emerges as a heroic figure. What’s not so expected, what comes as something bordering on shock, of a gratifying kind, is how much else the film takes on in this buoyant and mercilessly frank look at Bradlee’s life and career." (Dorothy Rabinowitz, The Wall Street Journal)
Nothing but the Truth
▶︎ Drama, loosely based on a true story (2008)
“When reporter Rachel Armstrong (Kate Beckinsale) writes a story that reveals the identity of a covert CIA operative, the government demands that Rachel reveal her source. She defies the special prosecutor (Matt Dillon) and is thrown in jail. Meanwhile, her attorney, Albert Burnside (Alan Alda) argues her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.” (Rotten Tomatoes)
Official Secrets
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (2019)
During the build-up to the Iraq war, the US and UK were desperate to get approval for the proposed invasion from the UN, but some of the non-permanent members of the Security Council were reluctant, to say the least. The NSA requested the assistance of GCHQ in getting information on diplomats representing those countries that could be used to ‘encourage’ them to tow the line.
Page One: Inside the New York Times
▶︎ Documentary (2011)
Andrew Rossi’s documentary focuses on the Media Desk at The New York Times. Shot in 2010 it covers, amongst other stories, the Wikileaks publication of the Afghan war logs.
The standout star, for me, is David Carr, a writer and columnist who steals every scene he’s in. Carr is irascible, smart and at times, very funny. In fact, just how I want my New York journalist to be.
The film grossed over one million dollars at the US box office and has been nominated for two News & Documentary Emmy Awards as well as a Critics' Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature.
the Paperboy
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (2012)
The Paperboy “ … follows Miami reporter Ward Jansen who returns to his hometown in Florida to investigate a murder case involving a death row inmate. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, David Oyelowo, John Cusack and Macy Gray.” (Wikipedia)
“A Camp Classic”, The New Yorker.
“ … why The Paperboy isn’t a bad movie”, The Guardian.
Available to watch on Prime video.
The Parallax View
▶︎ Drama (1974)
The Parallax View is a 1974 American political thriller film produced and directed by Alan J. Pakula, and starring Warren Beatty, Hume Cronyn, William Daniels and Paula Prentiss. The screenplay by David Giler and Lorenzo Semple Jr. was based on the 1970 novel by Loren Singer.
The story concerns a reporter's investigation into a secretive organization, the Parallax Corporation, whose primary focus is political assassination. (Wikipedia)
The Pelican Brief
▶︎ Drama (1993)
The Pelican Brief is a 1993 American legal thriller film based on the 1992 novel by John Grisham. Directed by Alan J. Pakula (All The President’s Men and The Parallax View), the film stars Julia Roberts in the role of young law student Darby Shaw and Denzel Washington as Washington Herald reporter Gray Grantham. (Wikipedia)
The Post
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (2017)
In 1967, Robert McNamara, the US Secretary of Defense, formed the Vietnam Study Task Force to write an "encyclopedic history of the Vietnam War". This report, commonly known as ‘the Pentagon Papers’, detailed the systematic lying by US administrations to the American people, starting with Eisenhower, through JFK and Johnson to Nixon.
Set four-years later, The Post portrays the true story of The Washington Post publishing the Pentagon Papers. It shows that this became a difficult ethical question for the Publisher of the Post, Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep), as she was close friends with McNamara.
Press
▶︎ Drama (2010)
▶︎ Turkish language
Press is a 2010 Turkish drama film directed by Sedat Yilmaz that tells the story of six employees at the Diyarbakır office of Turkey's first Kurdish-language daily newspaper.
Eighteen year- old Firat opens up and cleans the newspaper office everyday, and helps with distribution. Following increased threats and attacks, Firat volunteers to guard the office at night, and by day he tries to learn the trade. When the newspaper's distribution to Diyarbakır is blocked, the team has to come up with new ways to reach their readership. (Wikipedia)
The Price of Truth
▶︎ Documentary (2023)
Russian journalist, television presenter, and the editor-in-chief of the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Maria Ressa for “their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace”. And, on 1 September 2023, Muratov was declared by the Russian authorities to be a “foreign agent”.
This documentary follows Dmitry Muratov as he tries to secure the safety of his staff and the future of their newspaper.
A Private War
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (2018)
A Private War is gritty dramatisation of the final ten years in the life of celebrated Sunday Times journalist Marie Colvin. The film focuses on her time in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. There’s only so much of a life you can cover in two hours; Rosamund Pike is excellent in the lead role, however, I felt we didn’t learn enough about what drove Colvin to such extremes and made her take the risks she did.
If you want to learn more, I’d highly recommend Lindsey Hilsum’s biography, In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin.
Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins
▶︎ Documentary (2019)
The late journalist and media commentator Molly Ivins, an outspoken liberal from Texas, has an illustrious reputation among connoisseurs of political writing of the late 20th century, but is not so well known outside the US. This affectionate but thankfully not hagiographic documentary, directed by Janice Engel, offers a handy preçis of her biography, character and impact. (The Guardian)
Reds
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (1981)
Reds is a 1981 American epic historical drama film, co-written, produced, and directed by Warren Beatty, about the life and career of John Reed, the journalist and writer who chronicled the October Revolution in Russia in his 1919 book Ten Days That Shook the World. Beatty stars in the lead role alongside Diane Keaton as Louise Bryant and Jack Nicholson as Eugene O'Neill.
Beatty was awarded the Academy Award for Best Director and the film was nominated for Best Picture, but lost to Chariots of Fire. (Wikipedia)
Salvador
▶︎ Drama (1986)
Salvador is a 1986 American war drama film co-written and directed by Oliver Stone. It stars James Woods as Richard Boyle, alongside Jim Belushi, Michael Murphy and Elpidia Carrillo, with John Savage and Cynthia Gibb in supporting roles.
The film tells the story of an American journalist covering the Salvadoran Civil War who becomes entangled with both the FMLN and the right-wing military dictatorship while trying to rescue his girlfriend and her children.
The film was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role (Woods) and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Stone and Boyle). (Wikipedia)
Shattered Glass
▶︎ Drama (2003)
Shattered Glass is a 2003 biographical drama film about journalist Stephen Glass and his scandal at The New Republic. Written and directed by Billy Ray, the film is based on a 1998 Vanity Fair article of the same name by H. G. Bissinger and chronicles Glass' fall from grace when his stories were discovered to be fabricated. It stars Hayden Christensen as Glass, alongside Peter Sarsgaard, Chloë Sevigny, and Steve Zahn. (Wikipedia)
She Said
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (2022)
She Said is an upcoming American biographical drama film directed by Maria Schrader, written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, and produced by Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner. It is based on the 2019 book of the same name by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, journalists from The New York Times who exposed Harvey Weinstein's history of abuse and sexual misconduct against women. The film stars Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as Twohey and Kantor, respectively. (Wikipedia)
As of December 2022, the film is now showing in the USA and UK, and available to stream online. See the website link below.
Shock Corridor
▶︎ Drama (1963)
Shock Corridor is a 1963 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Samuel Fuller, and starring Peter Breck, Constance Towers, and Gene Evans. The film tells the story of a journalist who gets himself intentionally committed to a mental hospital to solve a murder committed within the institution.
In 1996, Shock Corridor was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". (Wikipedia)
Spotlight
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (2015)
Tom McCarthy's film is set inside The Boston Globe's Spotlight Team, the oldest continuously operating newspaper investigative journalist unit in the United States.
The film starts in 2001 with the arrival of Martin 'Marty' Baron, the new Editor of The Globe. The film hints that the paper had previously reported on the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, but hadn’t followed it up as Baron would have expected. Not having grown up in the shadow of the Catholic Church, the new editor lacks the reverence that holds back the native Bostonians and he prompts the Spotlight team to investigate further.
State of Play
▶︎ Drama (2009)
A thief is shot and dies in a Washington back alley, a delivery driver who witnesses the crime is also shot and is in a coma. The following morning, Sonya Baker, a researcher for a US Congressman, is hit by a metro train which is initially thought to be suicide. You know, I know, we all know, that if there are three deaths in the first five minutes of a movie there's probably connection and so there is here.
Storm Lake
▶︎ Documentary (2021)
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Art Cullen and his family fight to unite and inform their rural Iowan farming community through their biweekly newspaper, The Storm Lake Times—even as the paper hangs on by a thread. Twice a week, they work as civic watchdogs to protect their hometown and the legacy of credible journalism, at large—come hell or pandemic.
Available to watch on Prime video in the US.
Art Cullen won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for his book of the same name.
Tabloid
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (2010)
Tabloid is a 2010 American documentary film directed by Errol Morris. It tells the story of Joyce McKinney, who in 1977 was accused of kidnapping and raping Kirk Anderson, an American Mormon missionary.
The incident, known as the Mormon sex in chains case, became a major tabloid story in the United Kingdom and triggered a circulation battle between two popular tabloid newspapers, the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express. (Wikipedia)
True Crime
▶︎ Drama (1999)
True Crime is a 1999 American mystery thriller film directed by Clint Eastwood, and based on Andrew Klavan's 1995 novel of the same name. Eastwood also stars in the film as a journalist covering the execution of a death row inmate, only to discover that the convict may actually be innocent. (Wikipedia)
Veronica Guerin
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (2003)
Veronica Guerin is a 2003 biographical crime film directed by Joel Schumacher and starring Cate Blanchett in the title role. The screenplay by Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue focuses on Irish journalist Veronica Guerin, whose investigation into the drug trade in Dublin led to her murder in 1996, at the age of 37. (Wikipedia)
The Year of Living Dangerously
▶︎ Drama (1982)
The Year of Living Dangerously is a 1982 Australian romantic drama film directed by Peter Weir and co-written by Weir and David Williamson. It was adapted from Christopher Koch's 1978 novel The Year of Living Dangerously. The story is about a love affair set in Indonesia during the overthrow of President Sukarno. It follows a group of foreign correspondents in Jakarta on the eve of an attempted coup by the 30 September Movement in 1965. (Wikipedia)
Zodiac
▶︎ Drama, based on a true story (2007)
Zodiac is a 2007 American mystery thriller film directed by David Fincher from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt, based on the 1986 non-fiction book of the same title by Robert Graysmith.
The film tells the story of the manhunt for the Zodiac Killer, a serial murderer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 1960s and early 1970s, taunting police with letters, bloodstained clothing, and ciphers mailed to newspapers. The case remains one of the United States' most infamous unsolved crimes. (Wikipedia)
