The following films and television shows are some of my favorites. They provide interesting looks into the world of journalism and media. Some might be a little outlandish, some are just entertaining, some are documentaries, but they all concern journalism.
They are presented in alphabetical order (using articles — a, an, the — as part of the name) because ranking them in preference would be nearly impossible for me.
Films
- Absence of Malice (1981 – PG)
- All the President’s Men (1976 – PG)
- Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004 – PG-13)
- Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013 – PG-13)
- Bombshell (2019 – R)
- Broadcast News (1987 – R)
- Capote (2005 – R)
- Citizen Kane (1941 – PG)
- Fletch (1985 – PG)
- Fletch Lives (1989 – PG)
- Frost/Nixon (2008 – R)
- Good Morning Vietnam (1987 – R)
- Good Night, and Good Luck (2005 – PG)
- Lions for Lambs (2007 – R)
- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997 – R)
- Network (1976 – R)
- Nightcrawler (2014 – R)
- Nothing But the Truth (2008 – R)
- Page One: Inside the New York Times (2011 – R)
- Scoop (2006 – PG-13)
- Shattered Glass (2003 – PG-13)
- Spotlight (2015 – R)
- State of Play (2009 – PG-13)
- The Front Page (1974 – PG)
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011 – R)
- The Killing Fields (1984 – R)
- The Paper (1994 – R)
- The Paperboy (2012 – R)
- The Post (2017 – PG-13)
- The Soloist (2009 – PG-13)
- Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People (2014 – NR)
- True Story (2015 – R)
- Welcome to Sarajevo (1997 – R)
- Zodiac (2007 – R)
Television
- Dirt (2007-2008 – TV-MA)
- Good Girls Revolt (2015-2016 – TV-MA)
- Great News (2017-2018 – TV-14)
- Just Shoot Me! (1997-2003)
- Mad Men (2007-2015 – TV-14)
- Murphy Brown (1988-2018 – TV-PG)
- NewsRadio (1995-1999)
- Sharp Objects (2018 – TV-MA)
- Sports Night (1998-2000)
- The Newsroom (2012-2014 – TV-MA)