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"The Paper"

  • Writer: Isabel B. Torres
    Isabel B. Torres
  • Jun 24, 2019
  • 4 min read

On March 18, 1994, director Ron Howard, together with his screenplay writer Stephen Koepp, and the whole team, released an Academy award nominated film, The Paper. The film delved on the works of how, New York Sun, a small time tabloid company was always on hot water with the latest news mostly about celebrities, sports, and other topics away from seriousness, and how work and personal life may coincide or conflict. Each character had common traits in the office, workaholic and ambitious pursuit taker. However, the characters were set apart from one another, in light of their personal lives. Work was a definite hustle and bustle but what hit the soft spot was its showcase of the importance for relationships.


Firstly, Henry Hackett was a husband and soon to become a father. His home life would revolve around getting home at 4am in the morning, and waking up in yesterday’s clothes. Despite his grubby state, his pregnant wife Martha, saw him through. He worked as the New York Sun’s metro editor, and was given an interview at The New York Sentinel, which Martha was fully supportive of. After Henry ran his interview at the New York Sentinel, he grabbed hold of a story from the executives’ desk about the murder of two white businessmen, committed by two african american teenagers, at Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In a span of 24 hours, Henry Hackett, Martha, together with the people of New York Sun experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows.


As Hackett ran his investigative reporting with Michael McDougal, a New York Sun Columnist who had his own personal and professional life conflicts with the name Sandusky, a New York Parking Commissioner. Hackett and McDougal believed that the murder was a false accusation; that the NYPD held prejudice and committed an act of racial discrimination. Hackett and McDougal were newsmen who went lengths to release the sought-after story. After they scrapped through several sources, evidences, and interviews, they proved that the murder was not committed by the two African American teenagers.


In Hackett’s pursuit to successfully get the truth out to press at the deadline of 9pm, he experienced a couple of road bumps ahead. Hackett’s officemate-nemesis and managing editor of the New York Sun, Alicia Clark took over, the moment Bernie White, the New York Sun’s editor-in-chief had to attend to personal needs such as his prostate cancer and family issues with his ex-wife. Clark and Hackett have always had a rivalry in the office, but it came to its peak as the Williamsburg murder arose. The conflict between the two characters went head to head regarding the headline of front page release. Alicia Clark favored “GOTCHA!”, which claims that the two african american men were rightfully accused of murder. On the other hand, Hackett, together with McDougal, gathered proof of a falsely accused murder, and favored “THEY DIDN’T DO IT!” as the headline. Hackett went out of his way to the printing level to discontinue the printing of “GOTCHA!” and redo the headline to their favor. But time did not agree with action, as Clark stopped Hackett from relaying his act to change the headline.


As the movie trod on, his wife Martha, helped Hackett get evidence regarding the murder of the two white businessmen. Evidence of a bank statement, proving the purloin of the murdered men from their investors, who were affiliated with the Mafia. Although for Martha, work was not her priority for she had family in mind, her parents visiting New York and the baby on the way. Hackett was in the heat of various things. He rejected the offer at New York Sentinel, he was gathering the last few bits of information needed to prove the wrongfully accused, but at the same time he promised Martha dinner with her parents. Hackett was faced with the dilemma of work or home. Hackett was present at the dinner, for the earlier part but work called, and he left what he had planned and promised to fulfill for his wife.


As the 24 hour clock came to an end, what was unresolved found its way better places. McDougal’s personal and work problems with Sandusky came face-to-face with gunfire at a bar, together with White and Clark, who eventually got shot in the leg by Sandusky’s poorly aimed shot at McDougal. Prior to the chaos at the bar, McDougal talked sense into Clark, which later led her on to contacting the printing press at the New York Sun to discontinue the copies of “GOTCHA!” and edit the headline to Hackett’s favor. At the same timeline, Hackett made it just in time to catch his wife, Martha go into labor at the hospital. Come the next day, the New York Sun released its papers with the headline, “THEY DIDN’T DO IT!”, but little did that press release mean to Henry Hackett, for what mattered more was his child and his wife.


To seek beneath what you actually see and listen beyond what you actually hear is paying attention to detail. When Hackett and McDougal researched on the backgrounds of the falsely accused murderers, and had Martha investigate on the bank statements, these newsmen went the extra mile to know more about the case rather than just rely on information in front of them. The whole press release process is a team effort. Journalists cannot be journalists without the photographers. The paper cannot be completed and set without the editors, and none of it would be produced without the printing press. It’s an interconnected system where one arm helps the other to produce what the public should be informed on. The film presented journalism’s fast-paced industry, where deadlines must be met yet still have all the right information assembled. It’s an environment of conflicts and dilemmas, where personal meets professional, and of the hustle and bustle. There really has got to be no other movie more New Yorker than The Paper.


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