Monday, March 7, 2016
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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In both His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane newspaper related workers are the protagonists. These characters include Walter Burns, Hildy Johnson, and Charles Kane. In both movies, these jobs are portrayed almost as the “dream job” or the job everyone wants to have. In His Girl Friday, Hildy and Walter are clearly depicted as the cool characters that are superior to all of the others. They seem wittier and smarter than the non-journalists, especially when comparing Walter to Bruce. Walter continually makes Bruce look foolish with his insults and schemes that end with Bruce looking stupid and stuck in jail. The newspaper comes across as a “dream job” because when Charlie Kane and Hildy both have options for their careers, they choose newspaper. Charlie was a multi-millionaire and could have done anything he wanted to with his life but he decided to start his own newspaper brand. Hildy, who had worked as a journalist for many years, couldn’t walk away from this job even after quitting. That’s how much she loved it, she left her fiancé in jail and worked with her ex-husband, who she later remarries, just to cover a story. This tells us that the newspaper business was obviously a very popular job that many educated and wealthy people wanted. This is very different from today’s view on newspapers, mainly because of the advancement in technology. Before iphones, television shows, and computers were constant access to news, articles, and everything interesting in our society, newspapers were the only consistent and interesting news sources. Now that this new technology has taken over, not many people are interested in reading newspapers and the new “dream job” is being on television. When it comes down to it, a person that spreads news has tended to be one of the most popular jobs, whether it be now or over seventy years ago when these movies came out.
ReplyDeleteThe job of a reporter or publisher in the 1940s is characterized as almost more than human. It reminds me of the way politicians in Washington are portrayed on television today- fast paced, never sleeping, and leading lives far too exciting and complicated for a mundane citizen. In the 1940s, before television news and the internet were very prevalent, newspapers were the main source of news. Therefore, the people within the newspaper business were the ones with all of the information. They were the top dogs so to say who knew all of the information first and were in the inside circle of information. As a result they are seen as rather heroic; people want to be them. Things have changed quite a lot since then, but I think instead popular media and entertainment has begun portraying different professions in that light. The most popular examples are Washington political dramas and spy movies. I do not believe that the job of a reporter or publisher was as glamorous as the movies made it seem, and similarly I know that being a politician or lawyer is not as glamorous as modern day movies make it out to be. The job of a reporter or publisher in reality was to be the main source of news, but the job of a reporter or publisher in the movies was to be a manifestation of all that people aspire to be. Someone who does not follow all of the rules and who, at the same time, doesn’t lead a life rid of struggles. Part of the appeal is the challenge of the lifestyle, and the opportunity to overcome those challenges.
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ReplyDeletePrior to our current generation of social media in which information and world news can be spread instantaneously, the main source for public communication was the newspaper business. Unlike today’s decline for the newspaper business, in the 1940’s working for the newspaper was seen as a well-respected, fought for job. In today’s world, people can publish information for the world to see using a variety of choices including Facebook, Email, Twitter, or via text. Due to the number of ways this can be done, there is less of a need for people to read newspapers and share pressing information this way. While many still read newspapers every morning, working for the newspaper isn’t the most impressive job anymore since the information being told has probably been published on the internet prior to the newspaper printing millions of copies overnight for. Back in the 1940’s however, working as a reporter or journalist for the newspaper was seen as the most exciting job of all. In His Girl Friday, both Hildy Johnson and Walter Burns work for the newspaper. The way in which the work they do is portrayed seems exciting and meaningful for society. Hildy tries to leave the business but just ends up staying as a reporter because the story of the missing murderer was too hard to resist working on. Both Hildy and Walter find joy with working for the newspaper business. Similarly, Charles Foster Kane makes millions as the publisher of the newspaper business and due to this success, he seems to have it all in the eyes of the public. In both cases, working in the newspaper business gave characters the status of a happy life and higher hierarchy when compared to people who have smaller jobs in the business and other businesses.
ReplyDeletePrior to our current generation of social media in which information and world news can be spread instantaneously, the main source for public communication was the newspaper business. Unlike today’s decline for the newspaper business, in the 1940’s working for the newspaper was seen as a well-respected, fought for job. In today’s world, people can publish information for the world to see using a variety of choices including Facebook, Email, Twitter, or via text. Due to the number of ways this can be done, there is less of a need for people to read newspapers and share pressing information this way. While many still read newspapers every morning, working for the newspaper isn’t the most impressive job anymore since the information being told has probably been published on the internet prior to the newspaper printing millions of copies overnight for. Back in the 1940’s however, working as a reporter or journalist for the newspaper was seen as the most exciting job of all. In His Girl Friday, both Hildy Johnson and Walter Burns work for the newspaper. The way in which the work they do is portrayed seems exciting and meaningful for society. Hildy tries to leave the business but just ends up staying as a reporter because the story of the missing murderer was too hard to resist working on. Both Hildy and Walter find joy with working for the newspaper business. Similarly, Charles Foster Kane makes millions as the publisher of the newspaper business and due to this success, he seems to have it all in the eyes of the public. In both cases, working in the newspaper business gave characters the status of a happy life and higher hierarchy when compared to people who have smaller jobs in the business and other businesses.
In both His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane, the protagonists both happen to work in the newspaper business. These films tell us that their jobs as reporters and publishers in the 1940s were well respected positions. Walter burns was a very influential man, receiving respect everywhere he walked. Being of a high status in his field of work, this may have attributed to that. However, even when he would leave the office he still received mass respect and admiration. As well as being well known amongst the common people. One scene in particular where Walter took Hildy and her fiancé out to lunch shows how well known and respected Walter is. Not only did the waiter know who he was, he also accepted his request of ‘fetching the phone’ for him. Another instance of the status of being in the field of publishing or reporting is seen in Charles Kane’s character. His position was respected enough for him to gain the public opinion. He ran for governor, and most likely would have won if he didn’t run into conflict. Being a politician and a reporter, he received lots of fame as well. Hildy Johnson is also another example of how well respected her position is. Her being a women and having the position she had says a lot, and receiving the respect she did in that field really says something.
ReplyDeleteThe role of a reporter or publisher in the 1940’s was to be as conniving and deceitful as possible to get a news story that the public wants to hear, as shown by His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane. Throughout His Girl Friday, the main protagonist, Walter Burns, conspires with his friend multiple times to achieve his goal of getting back with Hildy. Walter resorts to counterfeit money, fake arrests, false promises, and a check that is paid out for less money. Additionally, the reporters from Walter's news team just flat out lie to get a story by dramatizing. When the man in jail escapes the audience can see these reporters phone in outlandish tales of his escape that could never be true. In Citizen Kane, Kane utilizes similar tactics of publishing content that the public wants to hear by twisting stories. The best example is the Daily Inquirer's stories about Kane's second wife, Susan Alexander. The newspaper focuses on how her concerts would sell out rather than the fact that they were train wrecks. Due to these articles and not her singing, Susan became a very successful singer. Before that, Kane took all of the best reporters from the rival newspaper in New York. With these acquisitions, Leland's main concern was getting these skillful reporters to change to Kane's ways. These ways were to expose the corruption in the capitalist world through the articles in his newspaper. In both cases, the newspapers twisted their stories in ways that the public wanted to here. Fortunately for the protagonists in both films, their articles were highly successful in many cases. From what we can tell in His Girl Friday, Hildy's article was very strong because she was the strongest writer on Walter's team. Similarly, Citizen Kane was successful in grabbing hold of eleven different newspaper locations and popularizing his second wife Susan. Today, it is very difficult for newspapers to tell lies in their articles because of the public awareness in social media.
ReplyDeleteThe films, His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane, paint the news and new reporters in a light that many in the 21st century are not used to. The news and the press are shown to aggravate and excite the general public about the stories that are being written, many of which are exaggerated. In His Girl Friday, Hildy wanted to write a story that would prove a man innocent and spare him from the noose; whereas on the other side of the spectrum, the mayor and the sheriff use the press generated from their hanging of the “killer” to further their own goals. In Citizen Kane, Kane actively participates in yellow-journalism, which was the swaying of public opinion around the country’s affairs (typically used to get the public to support wars) or to simply gain a larger readership. This is shown in the scene when Kane is reading an article from the Chronicle which stated a woman had gone missing and Kane orders the Inquirer to write a piece on how the woman was murdered, even though there is no proof that the woman is actually dead; he follows this by stating, “if the headline is big enough it makes the news big enough”. Nowadays, the media and the press try to strive for the ideality of objectivity. News is also much more easily accessible, no longer does one have to go buy a newspaper (more than one of they want different opinions) but simply has to pull out a cell phone for 90 different articles on whichever topic in needed. Now it is incredibly easy for one news source to fact check another and discredit them, so yellow journalism is significantly less prevalent.
ReplyDeleteWhile most current media and news sources strive to tell facts accurately—and are often discredited should their articles include bias or incorrect information—the journalism worlds portrayed in His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane have entirely different aims. Kane deliberately tries to evoke support for the Spanish-American War and practices the dishonest technique of ‘yellow journalism’, which likely alludes to the actions of manipulating journalist William Randolph Hearst (the inspiration for Kane’s character). Both Walter Burns and Hildy Johnson also use yellow journalism, and, in fighting to save Earl Williams’ life, focus almost exclusively on the idea of acquiring an amplified ‘story’ rather than performing a good deed. The jobs of these individuals, therefore, revolve around the determining of public opinion rather than the compassionate providing of information. Through both 1940s movies, the general public is portrayed as a single-minded mass when it comes to making decisions or developing ideas, thereby accentuating the role and ability of journalists to sway such mass opinion from one side to another. And, with the addition of competition between large newspapers and the lack of diverse and numerous platforms to share information (as there is today), newspaper journalists are presented with a dangerous amount of influence and a great need to ‘outdo’ one another. Citizen Kane and His Girl Friday in this way depict the newspaper business’ demise into a power-hungry, corrupt system that requires ‘stretching the truth’ and that feeds on the vulnerability and gullibility of the public. While a business such as Bruce’s insurance company might find clients through advertisement or developing a trustworthy reputation, journalism cannot work in this way: the only way for newspapers to acquire more readers, according to the actions of the 1940s characters, is to make their product more interesting, more controversial, or more exciting—even if this requires dishonesty. Luckily, the expansion of the media and the increase of public knowledge throughout the past decades has allowed journalism to evolve from such dishonesty. It now is expected to tell objective and unbiased stories that, in the time of Kane, Burns, and Johnson, likely would have been unsuccessful.
ReplyDeleteIn both films, His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane, the protagonist who works in the newspaper business is portrayed as someone who has a lot of power and authority in society. Everyone else in the business strives to be like them and tries to follow their footsteps. They are the ones who chose what information is published or left out of the newspaper. This is a very powerful tool because they get to choose what the general public will read that day. In Citizen Kane, Kane is extremely hard working and very involved in his career. Because of this, he spends a lot of time in his office instead of spending time with his life, so this causes his relationship with his wife to worsen. In the 1940s there was a need for many newspaper workers due to the lack of internet and social media in the homes of many individuals. Compared to today’s world, the newspaper business is extremely different. In today’s society, since there are so many different forms of social media, less and less people barely ever read the printed newspaper. Because of medias such as Facebook, Twitter, and any news website, newspapers are unnecessary. It is much easier to pull out a phone or a computer and type in a website to get the same information that the newspaper would have.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that both of these protagonists are involved with the newspaper business at one point in their life able us to sneak a peek into what life was like in the mid-1900s and allow us to recognize the importance of these newspapers. The mid-1900s were a very important time period filled with an abundance of happenings, both good and bad. A few examples are World War I and World War II, stock market crash, Great Depression, and many many more. Newspapers served as the hub in the wheel information in that they were the ones who allowed all of the information out and could completely change the connotation of a story. Obviously a job at a newspaper firm is very important and those employees can be viewed as closer to the top of the social hierarchy. This is entirely represented with Charles Kane from Citizen Kane and Walter from His Girl Friday, who are both regarded as very important people in their worlds. As time progresses, so does technology, which leads to a rapid decline in the newspaper business. Nowadays, the newspaper business is still very prominent, but has been taken over by technology news, for example news channels, Huffington Post, google, etc. However, these are still companies that are viewed as very imperative in our society, as was the newspaper business in the 40s.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that both of these protagonists are involved with the newspaper business at one point in their life able us to sneak a peek into what life was like in the mid-1900s and allow us to recognize the importance of these newspapers. The mid-1900s were a very important time period filled with an abundance of happenings, both good and bad. A few examples are World War I and World War II, stock market crash, Great Depression, and many many more. Newspapers served as the hub in the wheel information in that they were the ones who allowed all of the information out and could completely change the connotation of a story. Obviously a job at a newspaper firm is very important and those employees can be viewed as closer to the top of the social hierarchy. This is entirely represented with Charles Kane from Citizen Kane and Walter from His Girl Friday, who are both regarded as very important people in their worlds. As time progresses, so does technology, which leads to a rapid decline in the newspaper business. Nowadays, the newspaper business is still very prominent, but has been taken over by technology news, for example news channels, Huffington Post, google, etc. However, these are still companies that are viewed as very imperative in our society, as was the newspaper business in the 40s.
ReplyDeleteIn films His Girl Friday and Citizen Kane, you get a sense of how much influence and pressure those who are involved in the newspaper business. The amount of power that the newspaper business had in the two films are immense. An example of this is in Citizen Kane where Charles Kane was able to go from a well known newspaper business man and owner to a politic that was one scandal away from being president of the united states. This is because of how influential he was as a news writer and how much his stories affected those across the country. During his race, he rarely mentioned his policies and what he planned on doing for the country, the only reason he was the leading candidate was because of how popular and influential his newspaper articles were. Another example is how much power HIldy Johnson even as woman during this sexist time. During the 1940s, women didn't have nearly as much power as mean and there was a clear sign of inequality between the genders. But because of how talented her stories were and her high position in the newspaper business, HIldy had power that women didn't have during this period. In both examples, there is no way a politician would be able to make it far enough in election sole because of how popular his newspaper articles and company was, but for Hildy on the other hand, she would be treated the same and it would be as usual since women in modern times are treated more fairly and equally.
ReplyDeleteIt is very obvious that the respect given to those in the newspaper industry has changed drastically between when His Girl Friday/Citizen Kane were released, and current times. In both films the heroes and heroines of the story are people in the industry. This is because the only way to receive information back then was through the newspaper. That’s why it became so competitive. All the papers must compete against each other to be the general populations’ favorite paper. In Citizen Kane, it is obvious that the main competitor is the enemy of his company. During the montage scene where Kane’s wife is reading the Gazette instead of the Inquirer is where we know they are done. In His Girl Friday, all the reporters wish to get one thing: the story. Whether it be to harbor a criminal or bribe a jailor, Hildy is willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants. The movies even puts the newspaper industry over love because in His Girl Friday, Hildy chooses to work on the story instead of leaving with her fiancé Bruce, and in Citizen Kane, Kane chooses to stay late at work instead of coming home to his wife. In current times we can get our news whenever and wherever we want, without paying for it, and without needing to be loyal to one source. We see the examples in the two films which point to the newspaper benig above all, but it’s hard for us to understand it in our current predicament.
ReplyDeleteIt is quite apparent that during the time of the 1940's being a publisher was a very well respected job. During that time the publishers made the big bucks. During the 1940's reading the Newspaper was the main way people stayed updated in what was going on. The Newspaper was used as not only an update of society, but for the people reading it, it was also entertainment for them. Nowadays that has changed a lot. Although many people still do read the news paper every day, it is not nearly as many. Today with the makings of T.V. and radio, it has become a lot easier for the people of society to stay engaged and update in the daily news. Compared to the 1940's the newspaper does not play the same role as it use to nor do the publishers. In the 1940's people praised the Newspaper publishers, because without them, people would have no source of communication with the world. If there were to be no Newspaper publishers today, it would not affect society tremendously, because we have other ways of receiving news. Today there are still old fashioned people who depend on the newspaper for entertainment and an update on the news of the world, but most people do not. The majority of people who read the newspaper today, read it for pleasure, unlike the people in the 1940's who read the newspaper because they had no choice. I believe that the newspaper will always be a part of society in some shape or form, I just believe that the importance of the newspaper for society peaked in the 1940's and the people will never be that dependent on the newspaper again.
ReplyDeleteUnlike the modern world of reporting where one can learn about current events at any moment, in the 1940’s, it was the daily newspaper that broadcasted the current events. Newspaper reporters were the ones who dictated all of the news. The job of a reporter or a publisher, was to exploit the most recent story and publish the story before any other company. This job was one of the fast paced and thrilling jobs available during this time. If you are a reporter for the paper, then you have to be able to drop whatever you are doing to report a developing story. These reporters had all of the secrets that weren’t out yet, giving them a status that put them socially higher than almost anyone else. In addition to their high rank in society, these reporters also used their secrets as an advantage in society. Being a reporter for the paper also gives you respect from everyone. Such respect is shown in the film Citizen Kane when Kane is so respected that he runs for and almost wins the position of governor. Typically success is underwritten in the story of a publisher. For example, Kane was a multi-millionaire who had everything that he could want (material wise). Today, reporters and publishers don’t have the same higher hierarchy that they did in the 1940’s. Being a reporter is more common than ever, due to the wide range of news sources. New information is easier than ever to discover and you don’t even have to be a reporter to have it.
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